MASJID ANNUR New Zealand’s Second Oldest Masjid

By Hajji Ismail Waja and Brother Abdullah Drury*

*First printed in the Auckland Muslim newspaper "Al Mujaddid" in December 2000 / Shawaal 1421, pages 1-2.

Masjid Annur is the first and oldest Masjid in South Island New Zealand. It is situated in Deans Avenue, central Christchurch opposite Hagley Park. The oldest Masjid in New Zealand is the Ponsonby Masjid in Auckland (1979).

Masjid Annur, the mosque of “light” has served as an excellent bastion of Islam and Islamic propagation in the Canterbury peninsular. When the records the difficulties experienced and the humble beginnings. Also how their intentions were made to “light” up that part of the world with the fuse of Islam, and finally how the efforts of all concerned created the radiance of “Annur – the light” in Christchurch and New Zealand.

The appearance of the first Muslim dates back to 1874 according to the population census. There were 17 Muslims living in the Canterbury province who were working in the gold fields. There were Muslims from Mainland China.

The first identifiable Muslim family in Christchurch was that of Marhum Saleh Mahomet. According to his family living in the Hawks Bay region they maintained that, Sali was born Mohammed Khan in Ashkabad, Turkmenistan. He together with his father Marhum Sultan and his late mother and sisters had to flee from the invading Russian imperialist in the late 19^th century. The harsh winter weather and the rugged terrain claimed the lives of his mother and sisters. The survivors, Sali and his father made their way into British India. Father and son found their way into Australia and finally came to Dunedin round about 1894 and followed the gold rush through central Otago and up the West Coast before settling in Christchurch in 1903. In Christchurch they continued hawking until Sali started his ice-cream business. Marhum Sultan died in 1905.

Sali had a thriving business selling ice-cream from a bright red and white cart in the south east corner of Cathedral square. As he was fluent in Arabic, Russian, German, Punjabi and several other Indian dialects, his services were used as a Court interpreter when some of the passing sailors landed on the wrong side of the Law. His friendly personality, jovial mood, and always prepared to help others earned him a place in the lives of the Christchurch people as a Muslim of fine qualities. He earned the name “Ice-cream Charlie”. Sali died in 1943. The Christchurch Star-Sun carried a long obituary and one of the noticeable observations was that “Ice-cream Charlie was regarded as part of the summer time scenery and the first appearance of Mr Mahomet and his ice-cream was looked upon by the people of Christchurch as the official beginning of Summer.”

The other and perhaps more important Muslim family to settle in Christchurch was that of the Kara family from Adad, in the Gujarat province of Western India. Marhum Mohammed Kara arrived in New Zealand in 1907. He quickly established himself as a hawker and then a small businessman in Christchurch. Curiously there is no evidence that he and Marhum Sali were ever in contact. Marhum Mohammed Kara was community minded enough and founded the local Indian Association in 1936. Marhum Mohammed Kara was a very devout Muslim and he and his son Ismail, who soon joined him, insisted on slaughtering chicken and sheep in their own backyard to ensure their meat was halal, until the city by laws restricted this.

The only other Muslim in Canterbury during this period was one, Marhum Ahmet Ben Redi also known to the authorities as Ali Mahomet (no relation to Marhum Sali). Marhum Ahmet Ben Redi born in Muscat, Oman in 1856 entered Turangi aged 73 on 26 September 1930 and resided there for a year.

In 1949 Suliman Ismail Kara, aged 8 years, travelled to New Zealand to join his father and grandfather. By 1960 Br Suliman was operating his own dairy and was very active in the local Indian Association.

Hajji Suliman Ismail Kara followed in his grandfather and fathers footsteps of being a very devout Muslim. He observed his salaat and observed Ramadan. Suliman placed an advertisement in The Press (Christchurch) inviting all the Muslims to celebrate Eid-ul-Adah together. He soon realised that holding this prayer in any home would be far too small as there were about 200 Muslim students from Malaysia studying at Canterbury and Lincoln Universities. The first Eid prayer in Christchurch was finally held at a hired hall in the Students Union Building. The first congregational prayer took place on 22 November 1977 at 8.30 in the morning. The 70 participants who assembled for this first salaat repeated the Eid takbeer with the enthusiasm and contentment of this new and wondrous feeling. After the salaat the hugging and well wishing which was charged with the great feeling of brotherhood kept everyone in the hall for sometime. This feeling of togetherness and unity created that closeness and belonging which resulted in the group of students and a few families meeting regularly at different homes during Sundays. Thereafter the Philip’s Town school hall was hired for a regular weekly Sunday get together and the Zhur Salaat.

The Muslim Association of Canterbury (hereafter MAC) was registered in 1977 as an incorporated society. Hajji Suliman Ismail Kara served as its first president and for a number of years. When Hajji Mansoor Khawaja moved into Christchurch in 1975 from Wellington he also go involved with MAC and in 1981 was elected as president. He was served by a very able secretary, Br Mohammed Farooq French a Kiwi revert to Islam. Dr Hajji Hanif Quazi, who arrived in New Zealand in 1967 took over the seat of the president in 1983.

There was a growing need to arrange a regular place for salaat and by July 1979 MAC had managed to raise approximately $300,000 for a mosque or Islamic Centre. Early in 1980 MAC purchased an old two bed roomed house at 534 Tuam Street, Central Christchurch, for $8,000.00. The house needed a little redecorating but Alhamdulillah, the South Island finally had a place for regular Friday Jummah Salaat. Students took turns in serving as Imam, and Dr Hajji Hanif Quazi became and active teacher in the children’s Islamiyat and Qur'an recitation classes.

However, this house soon became too small for the growing number of Muslims, and reverts. Formal and informal discussions were held throughout 1982 and 1983 to establish the communities future requirements. On 10 May 1992 the Riccarton Borough Council approved a MAC proposal to build a Mosque on Deans Avenue. The Mayor of Riccarton Mr RWJ Harrington welcomed this move and suggested that the Mosque might even become a tourist attraction. Brother Rasjid Wallen who was one of the founding members of MAC designed the Masjid. On 24 May 1982 the Council finally approved the plans. In June the following year the foundation was laid in Ramadan. Thereafter several local members got involved in serious fundraising activities and efforts. In this respect MAC was blessed by the presence of three Saudi students. These three utilised their contacts in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to secure a large injection of cash that made it possible to build the masjid.

In July 1984 a contract for the construction of the mosque was finally signed between MAC and ML Paynter Ltd. Two months later the Saudi Ambassador, Dr Hajji Alohaly was accompanying the Saudi Petroleum Minister, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani on a delegation to the New Zealand Government. Dr Hajji Alohaly took the time to visit Christchurch where a small foundation laying ceremony was conducted in his honour. Thereafter the Ambassador took the opportunity of presenting MAC with a cheque of $460,000.00 from the Kingdom, for the Mosque project. Hajji Osman Gaffar, a brother from Sudan, prepared the Arabic calligraphy on the ceiling inside the Masjid.

On 25 August 1985 work on the mosque was finally completed and the keys were officially handed over to the then MAC president Dr Hajji Hanif Quazi. A two day symposium was held on 29 November 1985 to mark this occasion. Dr Hajji Salih Al Samahy informed the guest that the Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim World League, Hajji Mohammed Nasir Al-Aboodi, had played a significant role in the fund raising effort in Saudi Arabia. The then president of FIANZ, Dr Hajji Khalid Rashid Sandhu and many of his Council members attended this auspicious event.

This Masjid became the hub of Islamic activities catering for a very wide spectrum of Muslims, not only in Christchurch but the entire New Zealand.

We note that there are a few gaps that we could not account for. We do apologise if we have omitted someone from this list.

Al Mujaddid and its readers wishes to congratulate the pioneers, all the presidents and their dedicated teams for their effort, involvement and leaving behind milestones for the future generations to take up and improve the position of Muslims in Canterbury.