No leads in mosque attack as religions join hands

IT HAS been 10 days since the killing of Abbas Essop and the stabbing of two other worshippers at Verulam’s Imam Hussain Mosque, yet there is no indication of who the perpetrators are or what the motive for the attack was.

On Sunday, three days after the attack, a suspicious device confirmed to be an explosive was found at the mosque.

Hawks spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said yesterday that forensic scientists were still collating evidence from the scene, but as yet no leads have emerged.

This week marked the start of the holy month of Ramadaan for Muslims.

To restore calm and peace within the Muslim community of Durban, members of the National Interfaith Council of South Africa (Nicsa) as well as the Jamiatul Ulama KZN (Council of Muslim Theologians) held press briefings to lend support to the community of Ottawa, where the Imam Hussain Shia sect mosque is situated. It is the only mosque in the province.

At the Jamiat’s briefing this week, the council admitted that there were differences between the Sunni and Shia sects but that these were “purely of an academic nature”.

The Jamiat condemned the attacks and said they were providing support to the community of Ottawa.

“We visited the community last Saturday. It was discussed that, even though we have differences, these differences can be solved through dialogue, Shia not violence,” said secretary Moulana Mahomed.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Nicsa also called for the perpetrators to be arrested swiftly. Bishop Bheki Ngcobo said arrests should have been made by now.

At the briefing, mosque founder Azad Seedat said the mosque was closed and was undergoing a revamp which could take three to four weeks before it reopened to the public. Seedat said it was sad that South Africa had to go through Jamiat Rafiek “something like this” fighting for freedom.

“I pray that acts like these never happen again and I’m glad that we are all here as religious leaders. I hope that the message has filtered out to those with extreme views that this is not the place to ventilate your feelings.”

Seedat said he was grateful to members of the Sunni community who had taken time to visit the community of Ottawa and who lent support to him during this difficult period. after