Friday prayers will return to Masjid Al Noor
Christchurch businesses have rallied to ensure that the mosque at the centre of New Zealand’s worst mass shooting is open to the Muslim community a week after the terror attack.
A gunman entered the Masjid Al Noor on Deans Ave about 1.40pm last Friday and shot dead 42 people as they prayed. The building was left riddled with bulletholes and stained with blood.
Police finished their investigation at the scene on Tuesday night. Since then, carpet layers, plasterers, glaziers, painters, builders and gardeners have been working to clean and repair the mosque so the Muslim community can return to pray there tomorrow afternoon.
Friday is considered a sacred day for Muslims when they come together to pray as a community.
Stuff contacted businesses involved in the clean-up, but most declined to comment because they didn’t want the publicity.
It’s understood some have donated their time and materials.
The owner of a garden maintenance firm, who did not want to be identified, said several of his staff were pruning trees, mowing lawns and spraying weeds at the mosque free of charge. Painters and other tradespeople were also at the site.
The businessman said he was approached by a ‘‘government agency’’ to carry out the work and had been told it needed to be completed by tonight so tomorrow’s prayers could be held at the mosque.
‘‘It’s not about our business, it’s about trying to restore some normality back into the town. To help is a really good feeling.’’
The death toll from Friday’s attack stands at 50. Forty-two people were shot dead at the Masjid Al Noor and seven at the Linwood Masjid. A man died at Christchurch Hospital from his injuries.
Police said yesterday evening that they were ‘‘working relentlessly’’ to allow the Muslim community back into the Masjid Al Noor for Friday prayers.
The Linwood mosque was also expected to open this week, a spokeswoman said. Police would maintain a presence at both mosques for the public’s reassurance and safety.
‘‘We would like to thank the community and contractors who have helped us get the mosques back to their original states before these devastating attacks.’’
Anwar Alsaleh, 65, who hid in a bathroom at the Masjid Al Noor while the gunman killed many people he knew, said he would attend Friday prayers – also known as Jumu’ah – at the mosque if it reopened in time.
‘‘I’m not afraid,’’ Alsaleh said. ‘‘I’m lucky to be alive.’’
Many in the Muslim community would be nervous about returning to the scene where their friends and family were killed and injured, and tight security was needed to make them feel safe.
Muslim Association of Canterbury president Shagaf Khan said he would pray at the mosque if it opened, as would many others in the Muslim community.
‘‘Whatever has happened, it’s not going to happen again. The majority [of the Muslim community] . . . can’t wait to go back because they want to . . . pray as normal.’’
Khan said he understood Muslims from across New Zealand planned to converge on Christchurch for prayers tomorrow and it was unlikely the Masjid Al Noor would have the capacity to accommodate them.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced there will be a national call to prayer broadcast on TVNZ and RNZ tomorrow and two minutes’ silence to mark a week since the atrocity.
The first funerals for the 50 victims of the massacre in Christchurch have been held after an agonising wait for the city’s Muslim community.
Laid to rest were Khaled Mustafa and his 15-year-old son Hamza, a student of Cashmere High School, while younger son Zaid looked on from a wheelchair, also a victim of the shooting.
The family had arrived in New Zealand only a few months ago, escaping conflict in Syria. The father and son were victims of the massacre at the Al Noor Mosque on Friday.
Just after 12.20pm yesterday, a funeral procession arrived at the Memorial Park Cemetery, led by a police car.
Shrouded and lying in open caskets, the two were carried by mourners into a marquee set up in the Islamic section of the cemetery.
Less than 20 minutes later, the caskets were lowered into the ground with the family watching.
In a sign of how tense Christchurch remains after the massacre, large parts of the section have been fenced off for days. Police armed with assault rifles remain on guard.
Jamil el-Biza, from the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association in Sydney, said it was horrific to attend a funeral where the first words spoken were emergency evacuation procedures.
He said moments before the funeral began he heard the victim’s younger brother, Zaid, 13, who was in a wheelchair after being wounded in the attack, say to his father and brother, ‘‘I don’t want to be here alone’’.
El-Biza said the funeral was a demonstration of humanity