The Javia Masjid has been a beacon of Islam and has played a profound role in the lives of the Muslims of the rural areas of the Western Cape.

The Javia Masjid is considered to be the oldest Masjid outside of Cape Town and is an important historical landmark in the province. This masjid is the first place of worship established in the Strand. 

The Strand Moslem Council owners of the Javia Masjied in association with Mr Fanie and Mr Rhoda have prepared the necessary documentation towards the declaration of the Javia Masjid, 43 Market Street, Strand as a Provincial Heritage Site. 

This nomination is submitted in association and with the support of Quahnita Samie at Vidamemoria Heritage Consultants.

For the Muslim community of the Strand the Javia Masjid represents the initiative and commitment to their faith of their forebears. It reminds them of how as free blacks or runaway slaves their forefathers with very little or no resources at their disposal still had the foresight and courage to erect something that today 150 years later still stands as a monument to the effort of our forebears to establish this rural Islamic enclave on the False Bay coast.

 contribution of the Muslim Community to the history and traditions of the City of Cape Town have been vital since early Cape Settlement. The social and cultural uniqueness of the city is largely due to the important role played by its inhabitants through the centuries. 

The Javia Masjid represents one such structure that epitomizes the zeal of these people who with little means and resources at their disposal and everything going against them could build something that almost 200 years later is still there for the current generation to use and benefit from. All of this, despite the vicious Group Areas Act that moved worshippers far away from their place of worship. To this end this legacy of our forebears needs to be preserved for the generation to come.