Al Noor Mosque, Islamic prayer center in Riccarton, New Zealand.
Al Noor Mosque is a Sunni mosque in Riccarton, Christchurch, with a white rectangular building, a brown entrance porch with a wide arched opening and green doors, and a gold-coloured dome above the porch. A tall white tower with a gold pointed top stands to the left. Inside, the prayer hall has a flat white ceiling, white walls, green patterned carpet, a mihrab with a geometric outline, and fluorescent tube lighting.
The community opened the building in 1985 with support from the Middle East, creating the first prayer site for Muslims on the South Island. After an attack in 2019, the building became a site of remembrance and international solidarity.
The name Al Noor means "the light" in Arabic. In 2003 the mosque hosted a National Māori Muslim Day, organised by the Christchurch Muslim community. The building is run by the Muslim Association of Canterbury, founded in 1977, and by 2015 it counted 550 members.
Visitors should remove shoes before entering the prayer rooms and women can borrow a headscarf if they do not have one. The mosque sits on Deans Avenue near Hagley Park and is easy to reach by public transport.
Al Noor was the second mosque built in New Zealand. Its main construction contract was let in July 1984 to M. L. Paynter Ltd for NZ$500,000, and the Saudi Arabian government gave $460,000 towards the build. The first Friday prayer was held on 21 June 1985, which fell on Eid al-Fitr.
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