Imported post: Facebook Note: 2019-10-16T08:49:54

It was in April 1982. A property on Deans Avenue, Riccarton, Christchurch was for sale. The land area was roughly 3600 sqm. It was a piece of land housing a horse stable smack bang in the middle of the property. The second photo was the stable building. The land was not even, with small hillocks, consistent with the previous use as a horse training ground. There were not many Muslims in Christchurch back then, most of us were students from as far away as Sudan, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia. One Muslim brother turn up at the real estate office that day when the property was for sale. No one else. A large piece of land, so close to the city a very suitable site for masjid. No one else turn up, cant blame them, because they are young students at the university. They wouldnt know what to do. The real estate agent told this Muslim man, that there is also an interest from a church group. "I cant make decision, the other guys hasnt turn up yet." Time was ticking. The real estate agent said, "You have to sign on these dotted line by 12 noon, then I can say that the property is sold. There is also another church group interested in this property, they are willing to pay $110,000." " Can I ring my lawyer first?" He hurriedly walked to the phone booth at the end of the street. In those days, there was a red phone booth near the corner of Brockworth Pl and Deans Ave. His lawyer told him that settlement date is in 3 months time, and it shouldnt be a problem. "Just in case you cant pay, we can always resell the property at a profit." "I am buying this property to build a masjid, not to make profit!" So he came back to meet the real estate agent and signed on the dotted line. All in, it cost $100,000. We didnt have much money back then. Our account only had a few hundreds. So we save money among ourselves, fundraise by organizing ethnic food fetes, participating in ethnic food market, selling our food to raise funds. Slowly the money start to come in. The first thing we built was the fence. Yes the cinder block wall. We built them on our side of property, so the neighbours has no right to paint or attach anything to it. That fence is our property. "Yes we are being kind to our neighbours by letting them attach postboxes to our wall." Right next door to us, at number 107, at the back, there was a veterinary clinic. When we were building the wall, this vet couldnt use his garage because the entrance was too narrow now that we build the wall. So we gave away that sliver of land to him for free. Love thy neighbour. "If your neighbour is hungry, you shouldnt eat either, feed your neighbour first." He was happy. "You can do whatever with your land, I wouldnt raise any objection." We couldnt do anything for 4 years while we were raising the funds. In the weekends we organised working bees to level the land ready for building the masjid. And when there was enough money to lay the foundation, we got it done, and then wait some more for more funds to continue building.