Al Noor Mosque, Christchurch

Al Noor Mosque
Al Noor Mosque in 2006
Basic information
Location	Riccarton, Christchurch, New Zealand
Affiliation	Sunni Islam
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Mosque
Architectural description
Specifications

The Al Noor Mosque (Arabic: مسجد النور‎‎‎, Masjid Al Noor) is a large mosque in Riccarton, Christchurch, New Zealand. The building is managed by the Muslim Association of Canterbury (MAC), founded in 1977.

History

Built over 1984–1985, Al Noor Mosque was the world's southernmost mosque until 1999. Dr Mohammad Olyan, from Jordan, was a co-founder of the mosque.

In 2003, the Christchurch Muslim community organised a "National Māori Muslim Day" at the mosque. In the same year, controversy arose inside the local Muslim community around the management of the mosque; the arrival of new members of Arab and Somali origin sparked tension with the earlier members of South Asian origin, the latter of whom have a different culture and more moderate interpretation of Islam.

The mosque was allegedly involved in radicalizing two terrorists who were later killed in a US drone strike. Daryl Jones, a 30-year-old dual citizen of New Zealand and Australia, was killed by a drone strike on a convoy in Yemen on 19 November 2013. Australian Christopher Havard was killed alongside Jones, and his parents say he told them he first learned about radical Islam at the al-Noor Mosque, where he met Jones. Authorities considered both men "foot soldiers" of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Australian federal police cancelled both men's passports in 2012, considering them a threat to national security. One man who "attended a converts' weekend at the mosque" in 2004 stated that a visiting speaker from Indonesia endorsed violent jihad and that many at the mosque supported the speaker's views. "Most of the men were angry with the moral weakness of New Zealand. I would say they were radical." Mosque authorities confirm that Havard studied there in 2011 but deny any connection with Jones, as well as denying any radical teaching.

In 15 March 2019, the site, along with Linwood Islamic Centre, was a target of the Christchurch mosque shootings. Forty-two worshippers were shot and killed inside the mosque. The shooter indicated in his manifesto that both mosques' "prior history of extremism" was a factor in his decision to target them. Olyan was among the injured.