About Us
The Parow Muslim Association (PMA) was established in 1996 by a group of residents in the area. With the growing need for space to perform Salaah and Islamic education, a premises in Park Road Panorama, was purchased and converted into a Salaah Khana and a Madressah in 2000.
The Panorama Masjid currently serves the local Muslim communities from Panorama, Parow, and Plattekloof, whilst also providing a convenient place of worship for those passing by the N1.
Assalaamu Alaikum:
Thank you for visiting the Panorama Masjid. We are grateful to your for your continued support.
Moulana Waseem Hendricks, Imam
.
The Parow Muslim Community Trust & Panorama Masjid
As dawn breaks over Plattekloof Hill, vehicles start streaming through the gates of the Panorama Masjid Precinct. It is shortly before 8AM on a Monday morning, the air filled with young learners greeting each other and their parents as they get ready for the start of a busy school day at the Masjid.
The Panorama Masjid is the home of two schools. One that provides Hidfth and Arabic Studies while the other Hidfth and Secular Education in a curriculum structured around an Islamic ethos.
Shortly after the School day comes to a close at 14h30 we hear the same frenzy of activity as the scholars leave and the Madrassah learners enter, rushing to greet their teachers. Madrassah continues until 17h30 and shortly thereafter there is the well-attended Maghrib and Eshaai prayers.
There is a hive of activity, filled with the buzz and laughter of children throughout the day that has become a daily weekday routine at the Panorama Masjid.
Saturday mornings are less busy, but with no less excitement or enthusiasm as New Muslims enter the precinct for the weekly Discover Islam Programme. This programme specifically caters for New Muslims who have recently taken their Shahada (oral declaration of Faith), and are keen to get on par with their basic Islamic knowledge and recitation of the Holy Qur’an. It is with a great deal of love, enthusiasm, and compassion that the volunteers impart their Islamic instruction and answer every question that the New Muslims may have.
This sense of community, cultivated by The Parow Muslim Community Trust and the attendees of the Panorama Masjid since its establishment in 1996, however also extends well beyond the immediate area.
The very room that hosts the Discover Islam Programme also becomes the engine room for the Outreach Programme. The desks are cleared to create space for the packing of thousands of food hampers that are prepared and distributed to numerous impoverished and needy communities in Delft, Ocean View, Tafelsig, Facreton etc.
This activity is particularly escalated during Ramadhan. When the days seem long, the volunteers from the PMCT Community are spurred on by the sight of familiar faces, the banter, the laughter, and camaraderie developed amongst them over the years. This act alone captures the sense of community of the attendees of the Masjid.
It is evident that this is a community who have a deep appreciation for the Masjid and the solace it offers. Reaching this point however was not easy, with the Trustees having to face a court interdict and stand trial so that the Muslim community could practice their faith in this neighbourhood, overcoming the aftereffects of the now repealed Group Areas Act and Separate Amenities Act of the Apartheid era, in order to do so.
As one enters the Masjid precinct, the love and spirit of Islam is palpable. This is the second home to its immediate community, a hub and a beacon of hope to the impoverished that it serves, a champion of spatial justice and a symbol of the propagation of Islam in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa.
This is the Panorama Masjid, bursting at its seams, ready to grow and expand its programmes, with a community serving Allah SWT and His Deen, with each act done purely for the pleasure of Allah SWT.
