The mosque

The Koloon Mosque has been standing in the busy tourist district of Tsim Sha Tsui for as long as I can remember. It has always been a landmark of that area. I never remember whether that tube exit closest to the mosque is Exit A, or B or whatever letter. It is always the Mosque Exit when we discuss with friends where we should meet for an evening out or a shopping excursion.

There were a few years in my youth when I worked in a tiny office in a dingy commercial building in TST. Next to us were a shiny polished shopping mall of expensive commodities and an area of equally expensive restaurants that gave an exotic aura. My trip from work to home would first bring me to a bus stop close to the Koloon Mosque. The mosque stood out as something extraordinary. Hong Kng sells itself as a cosmopolitan city where East meets West. East meets West, but East seems not to have met its own eastern neighbours. We never know much about the Muslim community living in our midst. The queues at the bus stops and the people entering the mosque after removing their shoes seemed to come from two seperate worlds that had never for once overlapped. The passageway between the bus stops and the mosque was narrow, so narrow that you could hardly walk with another person shoulder to shoulder. And yet, the two worlds were like miles apart.

The history of the Kowloon Mosque could be traced back to HK's colonial past. The British brought with them the Anglican Church, but also, unknown to many local Hong Kong people, people of the Islamic faith from other parts of the British colonial empire.  The mosque was built in 1896 at the location where the TST police station now stands. It moved to the present site in 1984. We have had the Muslim community with us for more than 100 years. The study of Hong Kong history, at least the one I know, unfortunately misses this part of our Muslim friends and neighbours. And when we discuss about colonial and postcolonial HK, is it fair and just to ignore those who were/are not Han Chinese? Is HK being a cosmopolitan city more a myth that we like to use to massage our own ego?

Years after I quitted my job at TST, I finally had the chance to go into the mosque as a guest to break the fast of Ramadan with our hosts in an interfaith dialogue gathering. I thanked our hosts' hospitality and patience in answering our (mostly people of the Christian faith) questions. Dialogue is a long process; it's not a public hearing nor a session of Q and A, even though questions and answers are definitely involved. We may have to work on a common vocabulary too. I appreciated all those who attended. Differences can make people feel uncomfortable. Hopefully, when we gather in goodwill, we can transcend those differences and see more in common in our humanity.

By the way, good food always helps! Sharing a meal brings people closer. Despite our seeming differences, we all have to eat.