The first mosque visited was the Baitun Noor Masjid in 10th Avenue, Mayfair. I must confess, that despite living in and visiting the Mayfair area often, this was the first time I had actually visited this Mosque. An observation I have made is that many people tend to regularly visit one Mosque on a daily basis.
At a first glance, the outside structure does not replicate the traditional mosque which includes a dome and minaret. During the apartheid era, Mayfair was historically a ¨White¨ neighbourhood. This community consisted of Christians and Jews. Following the abolishment of the Group Areas Act, Mayfair saw a significant influx of Muslim Indians from Lenasia in the South West of Johannesburg, together with economic migrants from other provinces. This structure was previously a Jewish Synagogue, which has now been converted to a Mosque to meet the needs and changing demographics of the area. I was also informed that this was historically a "Markaz" . "Ok, what does this mean I thought" since we never had any in Pietermaritzburg when I lived there. Thanks to my friend Google, I determined, that it meant in this context a "Centre" for the Tabligh Jamaat in Johannesburg. The offical Markaz has sinced moved a few Kilometers down the road and now it is simply a Mosque or known as the "Old Markaz". I visited this Mosque during Asar time, but what struck me at the onset was the cosmopolitan nature of this Mosque. There were people from all walks of life, local Indian Muslims, people who clearly were foreigners, but more importantly, the warm atmosphere of people. "Salams Brother"" How are You". This automatically made me feel welcome and happy to be here. Overall, a great start to the project.