Emotional moment as mosque faithful return
The smell of fresh paint hung inside the Masjid Al Noor in Christchurch yesterday after it was reopened to the public.
Tradies worked relentlessly on repairs over the past week so authorities could officially return the building to the Muslim community.
Shortly before midday yesterday,
Imam Gamal Fouda led a small delegation of Muslims inside, along with dignitaries from the Middle East.
After a short sermon, he emerged draped in a New Zealand flag, ready to welcome the faithful once again to the centre point of their community.
Crown Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan also met Muslim community leaders at the mosque yesterday to pay his respects to the victims.
Prince Hassan told those gathered outside that human dignity was being assailed on all fronts by extremists and fanatics.
‘‘We stand together in our commitment to peace in this beautiful country of New Zealand, which has so much to teach us in terms of solidarity, love and compassion.’’
Stories of pain and heartache continue to emerge. Huzef Vohra, 21, returning to the area to pick up the car of a friend who was shot dead, said the attack had robbed him of an old classmate from Ara Institute of Canterbury and his father, two family friends and two relatives.
Vohra, originally from India, said he was underneath the dead bodies, and could easily have been shot.
He and housemate, Ashif Shaikh said they were determined to worship there again, despite the horrors they witnessed.
A semblance of normality is slowly beginning to return to Christchurch – a few hundred metres from the mosque yesterday, children were playing cricket watched by their parents.
But the signs of what happened are still all too visible. Heavily armed police guarded the Al Noor mosque before the cordon was lifted, and fields of flowers still garland trees and pavements nearby. Mourners still bring fresh bouquets.
Gestures continue around the country. Last night, US singersongwriter John Mayer told the crowd at Spark Arena, Auckland: ‘‘Thank you for coming out under such heavy circumstances, it means a lot.’’
The show opened with kapa haka, and Mayer sang How Great Thou Art.
Crowds at the Homegrown music festival in Wellington observed two minutes’ silence.