There has been yet another incident of an attack on a masjid in a spate of three days. On Monday, Masjidul-Jamiah in Kalk Bay was found strewed with blood making this the second incident of this nature.

Achmat Sity, the imam at the mosque said that the caretaker of the masjid made the unpleasant discovery.

“The masjied caretaker came in at fajr found that the mosque was broken into and that someone took like a syringe and splattered the masjid walls with blood. He also found rakkams and Qurans thrown on the floor. We have reported the matter to the police and it is under investigation.”

Following the incident, the masjid committee held a meeting last night to discuss the incident.

“We have discussed that we will not blow the issue out of proportion because we have a good relationship with the interfaith groups in Kalk bay. It is very sad, that masjid is 100 years old and it is the first time that something like this has happened. And what we are going to do is put in surveillance cameras for the future,” Sity explained.

Sity says he feels that this incident could be related to the Simon’s Town incident.

Over the weekend in Simon’s Town, a bloody pig’s snout was discovered on the gate of Noorul Islam mosque.

According to the Masjid committee the care taker of the masjid discovered the snout at the door and blood on the handle of the door. The matter was reported to the police who are investigating the matter.

Meanwhile last week, a Langebaan resident called for the mosque in that area to be burnt down due to him in a social media post.

Liam Christian Ferreira has since apologised for his comments made on facebook and he has criticized the pig incident.

The Muslim Judicial Council’s (MJC) first deputy president, Moulana Abdul khalik Allie, speaking to VOC said that they condemn the attacks.

“2017 is a very challenging start to the Muslim community but it must also be viewed as how we deal with these issues. As the MJC we have met with the community of Langebaan and now Simon’s town and met with the community and it shows that the Muslim community has infrastructure.”

Allie said that he commends the South African Humans Right Commission (SAHRC) and members of the commission who came out to Simon’s Town.

“We are extremely grateful that the SAHRC’s acting provincial manager came out to Simon’s Town to listen to the grievances of the Muslim community,” he explained.

VOC’s newsroom has been inundated with calls and messages of concerns and anger at the spate of attacks on our mosques. Responding to that, Moulana says that we must not take the law into our own hands.

“When the house of Allah (SWT), which is a place of sanctity, is violated or desecrated, it is natural to be upset. We must be upset by this and feel anger. But how do we direct that? We as the MJC urge all South Africans – if there are human rights violations [or] discriminatory acts – not to take the law into your own hands. We have to be law abiding citizens,” he emphasised.

VOC (Najma Bibi Noor Mahomed)