Masjid Al-Abrar
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...
s 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...
, and is located along Telok Ayer Street in the Chinatown
Chinatown, Singapore
Singapore's Chinatown is an ethnic neighbourhood featuring distinctly Chinese cultural elements and a historically concentrated ethnic Chinese population. Chinatown is located within the larger district of Outram....
district within the Central Area
Central Area
In Singapore, the Central Area or Central Business District contains the core financial and commercial districts, including eleven urban planning areas, namely Downtown Core, Marina East, Marina South, Museum, Newton, Orchard, Outram, River Valley, Rochor, Singapore River and Straits View as...
, Singapore's central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
.
The mosque is known by three names: Masjid Al-Abrar, Kuchu Palli and Masjid Chulia. Al-Abrar is its official name, while Kuchu Palli, meaning "hut
Hut
Hut may refer to:*Hut , a small and crude shelter*Hans Hut , Anabaptist leader*Hut Records, an English audio records company*Sunglass Hut International, largest American retailer of sunglasses...
mosque", is a reflection of the mosque's first modest structure. Its location in Telok Ayer Street, in the heart of Chinatown
Chinatown, Singapore
Singapore's Chinatown is an ethnic neighbourhood featuring distinctly Chinese cultural elements and a historically concentrated ethnic Chinese population. Chinatown is located within the larger district of Outram....
, was where Chulia immigrants from the Coromandel Coast
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the name given to the southeastern coast of the Indian Subcontinent between Cape Comorin and False Divi Point...
of 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...
, among the earliest immigrants to Singapore, settled when they came to Singapore -- hence, Masjid Chulia.
History
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
pers at the Masjid Al-Abrar used a makeshift thatched hut for worship until a brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
building replaced it between 1850 and 1855. An 1856 painting by Percy Carpenter
Percy Carpenter
Percy Carpenter , son of artists William Hookham Carpenter and Margaret Sarah Carpenter, was a painter active in the mid 19th Century.-Biography:...
, entitled Telok Ayer Street as seen from Mount Wallich, features an early visual record of the brick mosque. In 1829, the congregation of the mosque was granted a 999-year lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
for the land on which the mosque stood. The lease was held in trust
Trust law
In common law legal systems, a trust is a relationship whereby property is held by one party for the benefit of another...
by Hadjee Puckery Mohamed Khatib. In 1910, five new 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 appointed. They were K. Mohamed Eusope, Thambyappa Rarooter, S. Kanisah Maricayar, V.M. Kader Bux and J. Sultan Abdul Kader. The trustees were common across the three Chulia mosques: Masjid Al-Abrar, Masjid Jamae
Masjid Jamae
Masjid Jamae is one of the earliest mosques in Singapore, and is located in the Chinatown district within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. The mosque was established in 1826...
and Nagore Durgha
Nagore Durgha
The Nagore Durgha is a shrine in Singapore built by the Muslims of southern India in 1828–1830, and was originally known as Shahul Hamid Dargha. When this shrine was first built, Telok Ayer Street, where the shrine was located, was a sandy beach crowded with sailing craft...
.
Occupying the width of three 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 :...
fronts but with no five-foot way, the mosque was aligned with the street grid while also oriented towards Mecca
Mecca
Mecca 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...
. Inside, the mosque is essentially a one-storey prayer
Prayer
Prayer 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
Hall
In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers...
. It is much simpler than its earlier counterparts in Singapore. The four minaret
Minaret
A 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....
-like towers that define the narrow frontage
Frontage
Frontage is the full length of a plot of land or a building measured alongside the road on to which the plot or building fronts. This is considered especially important for certain types of commercial and retail real estate, in applying zoning bylaws and property tax...
are devoid of decorative elements, except for a small onion dome
Onion dome
An 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...
on the top of each tower.
The mosque remained in this form for over a century
Century
A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
, with only minor repairs from the 1950s to the mid-1980s. But in 1986 and again in 1989, major renovation
Renovation
Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...
s were carried out, transforming the old mosque.
Masjid Al-Abrar was gazetted 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 29 November 1974.
Architecture
At the entrance of the mosque, the parapetParapet
A 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...
that previously fringed only the central bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
now ran across the whole length of the frontage. Intricately designed, the parapet features an architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
, a frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
with mouldings and panels, a balustrade and Islamic cresting echoing that found on Masjid Sultan
Masjid Sultan
Masjid Sultan Masjid Sultan Masjid Sultan (Malay for Sultan Mosque; is located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road within the Kampong Glam district of Rochor Planning Area in Singapore. The mosque is considered one of the most important mosques in Singapore...
. The courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
that used to lie between the entrance gate and the prayer hall was covered, with part of it converted into a gallery extension. Originally single-storeyed, the prayer hall was extended to two storeys, with a gallery on the upper floor, and capped with a huge jack 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....
. The mosque can currently accommodate approximately 500 worshipers.
While the changes are extensive, the designers were sensitive to the original style, proportions and materials used in the old mosque were worked to ensure that the new look was graceful and cohesive.
See also
- Timeline of Islamic history
- Islamic architectureIslamic architectureIslamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
- Islamic artIslamic artIslamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations...
- List of mosques
- List of mosques in Singapore