Against all the odds….Musa Stranger’s PNG mosque build

On Saturday, 1 August, in a remote village straddling Papua New Guinea’s rugged Highlands Highway, in the province of Jiwaka, Musa Stranger stood before more than 400 locals to open a mosque he had spent seven weeks helping to build from nothing.

Speaking to AMUST just days after returning home, Br Musa reflected on a journey that tested his faith, his safety and his resolve in ways he never anticipated.

“To witness the development from the foundation to the bones and finally completing it to its current glory – tears come to my eyes that it is finally complete,” Musa said on social media on the day of the opening. 

“None of this would have been capable without the guidance and support of Allah.”

The project almost didn’t happen. 

Musa had originally planned a modest two-week trip to install water tanks in a Highlands village where he’d helped build a masjid the previous year. 

But the plan unravelled amid the outbreak of the Iran war, which delayed his travel, and further setbacks during Ramadan. 

A conversation with a close friend, Brother Ahmed John, redirected his focus to a different Highlands province, home to around 200 Muslims with no place to pray. 

“It’ll be better if you go and help these brothers,” Musa recalls being told – and the plan changed from a water tank to a full masjid.

What followed was far bigger than expected. 

An initial fundraising target of roughly $17,000 grew as word spread that Musa (one of Australia’s highest profile converts to Islam, with a massive social media following) was on the ground.

“We knew that if we went and started the build, a lot more people would get behind the project – and that’s exactly what happened,” he said. 

Working largely by hand, with milled timber from felled gum trees and iron sheeting cut on site, Musa hired three local carpenters – two of them Christian – who both embraced Islam during the build. 

“Everything was nailed by hand – even the timber was done by hand,” he said.

What began with barely ten men soon grew into a community effort. 

“Once these boys started putting up the framing, the Muslims were coming every day,” Musa recalled. 

“They could see something happening.” 

As the walls rose and the minaret was finally fitted, local Muslims turned up in ever greater numbers to lend a hand and witness the mosque take shape, with daily gatherings swelling to around 50 brothers and sisters in the lead-up to the opening. 

But the seven weeks weren’t without danger. 

Musa described tense confrontations caused by a land dispute, as some locals were unsettled by the sight of a permanent structure replacing temporary bush buildings. 

“There was a week where I thought I was going to die there,” he admitted. 

At one point he was urged by a contact working with the PNG government to evacuate the region immediately, though no flights were available from the Highlands. 

Remarkably, the man behind the disruption later accepted Islam himself, and the dispute was resolved.

Despite the hardship, the response from the local community was overwhelming.

At the opening ceremony itself, volunteers distributed 50 bags of food and 387 lunch boxes – all gone within hours.

In total, 18 people accepted Islam during Musa’s time in Papua New Guinea, including a village pastor, Robin, who stepped down from his church post the day after taking the shahada.

 “He knows Islam is the only thing he’s got left to his name,” Musa said.

Reflecting on the eventful journey, Musa said: “This is the longest trip away I’ve ever had in the path of Allah, and I honestly can’t wait for the next project.”

But the work isn’t finished. 

Musa is now seeking a charity partner to help cover the mosque’s ongoing costs, including its imam’s wages and water supply during PNG’s dry season. 

Looking ahead, he is already planning scouting trips to Fiji and Vanuatu (he is actually in Fiji as I write this), hoping to renovate or establish further masjids among Pacific Islander Muslim communities. 

May Allah reward Br Musa abundantly for his sacrifice, protect him on his journeys ahead and accept this masjid as an enduring Sadaqah Jariyah for all who contributed in any way.