Row over ‘private mosque’
A DURBAN prayer room has sparked a row between up-market Morningside residents and Muslim worshippers.
On Wednesday last week, DA ward 27 councillor Martin Meyer posted on his social networking group site that he had received complaints from residents about a “mosque” on the corner of Sandile Thusi and Avondale roads in Morningside.
The dispute comes as Muslims are observing the holy fasting period of Ramadan.
“I have contacted the city planner’s office as I am not aware of any rezoning application for that property,” Meyer said in the post.
Responding to a group member’s comment that the facility was a prayer room and not a mosque, Meyer said it was “being used as a mosque and there is a call to prayer that is causing some disturbances”.
Meyer told the Sunday Times Extra he had been informed that municipal officials had contacted the property’s owner asking him to cease activities within 14 days and to comply with zoning requirements.
“If this mosque has not followed the due process, as it seems they haven’t, it is important they follow this process to ensure that everything is happening in a way that is transparent and correct.”
The owner of the prayer facility, Mahomed Osman, said it was a musallah, not a mosque, and was created on private property. He said he did not believe it had the zoning requirements of a mosque.
“It is a permanent structure open for private use, but also open for public use to passers-by. It’s not a mosque because the ownership is private.”
Osman said there was a need for the facility in the area and that the loudspeaker was removed after complaints.
He said Meyer had not approached him first before contacting the municipality.
“We would not continue in any way to disturb the peace intentionally, especially if any complaint is laid.”
Osman said he believed Meyer’s actions were “clearly prejudicial and anti-Islamic.”
“There are only white European complainants. Furthermore, why is it a DA councillor who had to go to such extremes? It is insulting to the Muslim community to have these issues come up during the holy month of Ramadan.”
Islamic scholar and DA member Moulana Rafiq Shah said Meyer was obliged to contact the municipality after receiving complaints, but that he and Meyer hoped to solve the matter with Osman.
“We must make it unequivocally clear. We are not against the building of mosques or temples or churches. However, we do respect the rule of law.”
Moulana Abdullah Khan of the Jamiatul Ulama KwaZulu-Natal, a Muslim theological council, said the musallah was the first in that area.
“There are many, many musallah. There’s one in Innes Road, there’s one in Musgrave Road, there’s a place like that in Gateway, there’s one in Westwood, one in Pavilion. I think it is because it’s something new for this area — that’s why it’s created interest.”
He said the number of musallah tended to increase during Ramadan to facilitate additional prayers.
Municipal spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said that, in general, “a site must be appropriately zoned to allow for a place of worship via a town planning application’’.
‘‘However, there is nothing wrong for people to have private prayer rooms on their properties on condition that due application process is followed.
‘‘It must also be noted that there is a difference between a mosque and a prayer room.”