Masjid Abdul Gaffoor
Encyclopedia
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. It is located at Dunlop Street in the Rochor Planning Area, within Little India
Little India, Singapore
Little India is an ethnic neighbourhood found in Singapore that has Tamil cultural elements. Little India lies to east of the Singapore River—across from Chinatown, located west of the river—and north of Kampong Glam. Both areas are part of the urban planning area of Rochor...
off Jalan Besar
Jalan Besar
Jalan Besar is the name of a street in the northeastern part of the Central Area in Singapore, which is its central business district. It is also the name of the electoral Jalan Basar Group Representation Constituency, of which Jalan Basar is a prominent centrepiece...
.
The mosque was constructed in 1907, and major restoration of the building was completed in 2003. The mosque is currently owned by Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura
Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura
The Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura , also known as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore is a statutory board in Singapore...
(MUIS).
The mosque is also known by the following variant names: Abdul Gafoor Mosque, Abdul Gafor Mosque, Abdul Gaffor Mosque, Abdul Gaphore Mosque, Abdul Gapore Mosque, Dunlop Street Mosque and Indian Mosque.
History
Masjid Abdul Gaffoor is located in the area known as Kampong Kapor, which was an active businessBusiness
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
hub for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s and for those who worked at the old race course at Farrer Park
Farrer Park
Farrer Park is a historic neighbourhood in the central part of Singapore, located at the end of Little India. Farrer Park is defined by the boundary formed by Dorset Road, Hampshire Road and Northumberland Road.-Etymology:...
. The mosque on this site was originally a building with timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
partition
Wall
A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air...
s and a tile
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
d roof
Roof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
known as Masjid Al-Abrar, built in 1846 to serve the religious needs of the South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
n Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
merchants and Bawean
Bawean
Bawean is an island of Indonesia located approximately 150 km north of Surabaya in the Java Sea, off the coast of Java. It is administered by Gresik Regency of East Java province. It is approximately 15 km in diameter and is circumnavigated by a single narrow road. Bawean is dominated by...
ese syces and horse trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
s residing in Kampog Kapor.
In 1881, a deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
of assignment
Assignment (law)
An assignment is a term used with similar meanings in the law of contracts and in the law of real estate. In both instances, it encompasses the transfer of rights held by one party—the assignor—to another party—the assignee...
dated 14 November, 1881 created the Dunlop Street Mosque Endowment or wakaf. The two trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
s were Ismail Mansor and Shaik Abdul Gaffoor bin Shaik Hydert. Abdul Gaffoor was chief clerk
Law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...
at a legal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
firm. The wakaf was created for the building of a mosque for the Muslim community in Singapore. The deed of assignment also placed in trust several other properties
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
including a Muslim burial ground
Burial Ground
Burial Ground is the ninth studio album by Swedish death metal band Grave, released in June 2010.-Track listing:# "Liberation" - 3:40# "Semblance In Black" - 7:50# "Dismembered Mind" - 6:10# "Ridden With Belief" - 7:57# "Conquerer" - 4:44...
and a house in Race Course Road. The burial ground was closed in 1921.
In 1887, as mosque trustee, Shaik Abdul Gaffoor applied to construct shophouse
Shophouse
A shophouse is a vernacular architectural building type that is commonly seen in areas such as urban Southeast Asia. This hybrid building form characterises the historical centres of most towns and cities in the region.- Design and features :...
s and shed
Shed
A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....
s on the land around the original mosque. More shophouses were added in 1903. The rental of these buildings generated income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
which then went towards building the new mosque.
Building began in 1907 and it appeared to have taken quite a few years for the mosque to be completed because its completion date is not known. In 1910, when the new mosque was partially completed, the old mosque was demolished. When Shaik Gaffoor died in 1919, it was apparently still not completed. After his death, his son took over the management of the mosque and the wakaf properties. In 1927, the Dunlop Street Endowment was taken over by the Muslim and Hindu Endowments Board. The building was presumably complete then.
Today, the mosque stands facing a row of shophouses that are now used for Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
classes and other subjects, as well as for communal activities.
Masjid Abdul Gaffoor was gazette
Gazette
A gazette is a public journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.In English- and French-speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name Gazette since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear the name The Gazette.Gazette is a loanword from the...
d as a national monument
National Monuments of Singapore
National Monuments of Singapore are buildings and structures in Singapore that have been designated by the Preservation of Monuments Board as being of special historic, traditional, archaeological, architectural or artistic value....
on 13 July 1979.
Architecture
Although the wakaf was beleaguered by problems, the resulting Masjid Abdul Gaffoor is rich in architectural features.Features
- The prayerPrayerPrayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
hall is raised above the ground and surrounded with verandahVerandahA veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
s at the entrance and sides. It is oriented towards MeccaMeccaMecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and thus skewed away from the lot lines and the street.
- The verandahs are enclosed by a balustrade with circular and lancet-shaped openings and framed by repetitive cinquefoil archArchAn arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
es double-framed with heavy mouldingMolding (decorative)Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
s. The bayBay (architecture)A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
s are marked out with pilasterPilasterA pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s with ornate capitalCapital (architecture)In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
s. The wide openings give the interior an airiness that contrasts with the heavy columnColumnA column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s in the centre of the prayer hall.
- On either side of the main entrance are two graduated cinquefoil arched openings. The larger ones are nearest the entrance, while the smaller ones are further away.
- The main entrance to the prayer hall is pedimentPedimentA pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
ed with an elaborate sundialSundialA sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
in which the 25 rayRay (optics)In optics, a ray is an idealized narrow beam of light. Rays are used to model the propagation of light through an optical system, by dividing the real light field up into discrete rays that can be computationally propagated through the system by the techniques of ray tracing. This allows even very...
s of the sunburstSunburst (design)A Sunburst is a design or figure commonly used in architectural ornaments and design patterns. It consists of rays or "beams" radiating out from a central disk in the manner of sunbeams. Sometimes part of a sunburst, a semicircular or semi-elliptical shape, is used...
are done in calligraphyCalligraphyCalligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
. The sundial is flanked on either side by a series of pilasters and columns in miniature. The pediment above the sundial is shaped like an onion domeOnion domeAn onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles the onion, after which they are named. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the drum upon which they are set, and their height usually exceeds their width...
. The two square minaretMinaretA minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s on the left and right are complete with miniature columns and arches.
- There are panelPanel- Art and comic books :*Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art, such as a triptych, a piece of sequential art such as a graphic novel or comic strip, or a wooden panel used to paint a picture on...
s with calligraphic inscriptions in several places in the mosque, including over the entrance.
- The interior of the cupolaCupolaIn architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
at the centre of the prayer hall is supported by four large cluster columns that form semicircular arches. Square and round calligraphic inscriptions decorate the interior of the cupola.
- The cluster columns that hold up the cupola have elaborate mouldings and capitals.
- From the exterior, the cupola emerges from the roof deckRoof DeckThe roof deck is the roofing material layer between the primary structural components and either insulative layers or weatherproofing layers in a typical roof system.-Structure:...
as a hexagonal-shaped towerTowerA tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
that is divided into three levels and marked out with DoricDoric orderThe Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
pilasters.
- On the first level of the tower are eight cinquefoil windowWindowA window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
s with coloured glassStained glassThe term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
panes that let light through to the interior. These windows are ornamented with recessed mihrabMihrabA mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
-shaped moulding and cinquefoil arches.
- The second level has pilasters and capitals and is topped by a balustrade with bottleneckBottleneckA bottleneck is a phenomenon where the performance or capacity of an entire system is limited by a single or limited number of components or resources. The term bottleneck is taken from the 'assets are water' metaphor. As water is poured out of a bottle, the rate of outflow is limited by the width...
balusterBalusterA baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s.
- There are minarets at the corners of the hexagon. These minarets are crowned with onion-shaped domes with a crescent moon and a starStarA star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
at the pinnaclePinnacleA pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
. The very centre of the hexagon is crowned with a large onion dome topped with a smaller onion dome. On the pinnacle is a star and crescent moon.
- The corners of the front verandah have simpler and less elaborate cupolas.
- The four corners of the building are anchored by large CorinthianCorinthian orderThe Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
columns in a cluster with elaborate capitals in a leafLeafA leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
design. The interior and exterior of the mosque have several types of columns and pilasters. They are both structural and ornamental and range from Doric to Corinthian. Columns can be paired with pilasters and pilasters are inset into columns.
- The mihrab is plain. There is a narrow rectangular panel with a quotationQuotationA quotation or quote is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source, and it is indicated by quotation marks.A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any...
from the Qur'an above it. Next to the mihrab is the minbarMinbarA minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...
, a three-step timber staircase from which the imamImamAn imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
leads prayers.
- Above the prayer hall is a flat roof deck surrounded by a parapetParapetA parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
wall with bottle-shaped balusters. It is topped with a line of 22 small six-level minarets crowned with onion domes, each with a crescent moon. The miniature minarets rise from the pilasters that frame the cinquefoil arched openings below.
- There is also a type of single-leafed window that is recessed and framed by an elaborate cinquefoil arch. It is flanked with pilasters and pedimented and has the same star-and-crescent pattern of the larger arched openings.
- The ablutionWuduWuḍhu is the Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body using water often in preparation for formal prayers...
area in this mosque was originally a poolPondA pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
. This was later drained and a modern wash area put in. It is located outside at the southwest end of the mosque.