It’s early afternoon in Australia’s largest mosque in Lakemba, in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Dozens of male worshippers arrive to take their place behind the local Imam who is singing the call to prayer.
Every person in the congregation is facing the sacred direction – or qibla – towards Mecca, as is done right across the world.
Some whisper silent prayers. Others glance up to the ceiling in their own time, their palms open, welcoming what’s above.
Women gather in a separate part of the mosque.
Afterwards, worshippers gather to talk, and it’s there they explain prayer time and daily life has not been the same for any Muslim here in the past 12 months.
On 15 March 2019, 51 people died and 49 were injured in a shooting attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers.
Maha Abdo from the Muslim Women's Association. Source: Virginia Langeberg/SBS News
“It was beyond words, it was beyond comprehension of any human heart and mind,” Maha Abdo from the Muslim Women's Association tells SBS News.
“I can still recall that moment when my WhatsApp messages were going berserk and people thought it was a joke, until all of a sudden it hit everybody; this is real.”
“You’d be kidding to say it hasn’t changed, you know. The incident itself, the day, the time, the moment that was all over social media. It’s still in the back of all our minds.”
Today the number of worshippers attending the mosque has rebounded from the months gone by.
Ahmad Malas from the Lebanese Muslim Association says precautions are now factored into everyone’s day-to-day routine.
“Generally people are more alert, even the measures we take here at the mosque, but people are optimistic and they are coming.”
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Ms Abdo and her colleagues swung into action, arranging gatherings for Muslims in New South Wales in an effort to curb their sense of isolation.
Many had to overcome their fear and anxiety about leaving their house.
“Straight after the event, there was so much anxiety … mothers were concerned about sending their boys to the mosque for Friday prayers or any other prayers,” she said.
And security measures have been taken that worshippers never used to consider.
“I remember organising a morning tea after Christchurch happened and making sure the local police knew about it, where we don’t normally do that. Just so that, you know, you’re taking all the measures.”
“We have to be more vigilant, we have to have our phone always on certain speed-dials and having to be aware of your environment, of your surroundings, but not to allow that to cripple us.”
“It’s been one year of so much that people have had to rethink about so many things.”
Mr Malas says he has been impressed with the wider community’s response.
“We were very, very overwhelmed with the response that we got from all sections of the community and the different faiths. It goes to show the strong bond between the different communities within Australia,” he said.
“At the end of the day we’re all Australian and things like this bring everyone together. So we need to overcome those differences and we really saw some positive examples of that.”
While New Zealand responded swiftly to the attack with gun reforms, Australian Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi says she has been disappointed by the political response at home.
“For Australia, I’m sorry to say, it has been business as usual in the past year. We moved on as quickly as the media cycle after the horrible deaths of 51 innocent Muslims on our doorstep for which an Australian man is on trial,” she said.
“What we have seen is the rise of right-wing extremism, we haven’t seen laws against hate speech, we haven’t seen funding for national anti-racism campaigns since 2015.”
Labor has called on the Morrison government to fund amid a rising tide of race-based attacks.
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General said in response: "The Morrison Government has zero-tolerance to all forms of discrimination, especially racism".
"The government also recognises that intolerance towards Australia’s Muslim and Jewish communities has sadly been on the rise in recent times."
Australian man Brenton Tarrant is charged with 51 counts of murder and 40 attempted murders and is expected to go on trial in June.
Muslim communities in Australia are holding commemorative events in the lead-up to the first anniversary of the attack on Sunday and New Zealand will hold a special Friday prayer and national remembrance service to mark it.
“People if they want to show their support, they’re welcome to come. We will be mentioning the anniversary of Christchurch and renewing that prayer for the victims and their families,” Mr Malas said.
“We’re all one family at the end of the day. Any sort of violence or hate crimes needs to be rejected and made clear that it’s rejected.”
“The things that bring us together are greater than those that divide us.”
