Amazing Muharram 15 Rallies Support for Waqf of 99 Mosques Across Indonesia
The Cinta Quran Foundation has once again held its Amazing Muharram event, themed ‘Reset Your Life’. Now in its 15th year, the event addresses the struggles of modern society, where people are busy pursuing careers, business, and various achievements, by focusing on restoring one’s relationship with Allah as the foundation for living. The annual gathering also served as a momentum to rally support for the 99 Asmaul Husna Mosques Movement, a programme to renovate mosques across various remote corners of Indonesia.
Founder of the Cinta Quran Foundation, Ustaz Fatih Karim, said the theme ‘Reset Your Life’ was chosen for this year’s Amazing Muharram because it is relevant to the challenges of modern life, which is full of pressure and problems. ‘Why must our lives be reset? Because we are tired, life has a variety of problems. It feels like we have to restart, reset our handphone, ourselves, so we can refresh. So we can start from zero again, beginning activities with a clean slate,’ Fatih said during a press conference in Jakarta.
According to Ustaz Fatih, the momentum of Muharram is the right time for Muslims to renew their intentions and restart life with a better spirit. ‘Now we enter the heart, what is reset is the heart. And God willing, I will have an exam in the last session. Today is extraordinary, the talk show was also very cool,’ he explained.
Furthermore, Ustaz Fatih stated that around 4,000 worshippers packed the venue. Tickets for the event sold out five days before the implementation. The event also brought together scholars, intellectuals, and public figures in a forum combining preaching, spiritual reflection, and social action. ‘There is Irfan Hakim, Haji Irfan Gunawan, and others. Nearly 4,000 people attended, and tickets were sold out five days before the event,’ he added.
The series of events also featured several speakers, including Prof. Syafii Antonio, who discussed the importance of renewing one’s mindset. The presence of designer and public figure Ivan Gunawan also drew public attention. Ustaz Fatih assessed that Ivan’s involvement brought new energy to the da’wah movement they have been building. ‘This is extraordinary, because the 15th Amazing Muharram is special. Not only is it accompanied by our friend, Haji Ivan Gunawan, but he also invited his other friends. This is like a snowball of goodness; it gets bigger and bigger,’ he said.
The peak of the Amazing Muharram event was marked by fundraising for the 99 Asmaul Husna Mosques Movement. The programme focuses on renovating old and damaged mosques in remote areas, with an estimated cost of around Rp400 million per mosque. Ivan Gunawan revealed that the participants’ enthusiasm exceeded the committee’s expectations. In less than an hour, the waqf commitments were enough to build dozens of mosques. By the end of the event, the total commitments continued to grow and approached the target of building 50 mosques.
‘MasyaAllah, today we closed with commitments for the construction of 35 mosques in less than an hour. We can see that when we glorify the name of Allah, Allah is present and pleased,’ he said. Ivan also explained that the programme does not build mosques from scratch, but rather renovates existing structures to be more efficient and to allow the community to feel the benefits more quickly. ‘So, we are not building mosques on empty land, but we are doing renovations. Thus, the budget required for one mosque is estimated at around Rp400 million,’ he explained.
Ustaz Fatih added that the location selection is carried out strictly by considering the legality of the land, access, and the needs of the local community. ‘The requirements, for example, the waqf certificate must be clear, the location is remote or difficult to access, remote areas where the Muslim or convert population is large. We prioritise areas that really need a mosque,’ he said.
The initial phase of the programme will begin with the groundbreaking for the Ar-Rahman Mosque in Tamiang, Aceh. Additionally, construction is also planned to reach Papua. ‘If we wait, the mosque will never be built. While we have the ability and sustenance, let us be the ones to build the mosque,’ Ivan said.
To broaden the reach of this charitable effort, this year’s Amazing Muharram also made a digital breakthrough at Ivan Gunawan’s suggestion. The event will be broadcast online via the Vidio platform with a pay-per-view system priced at Rp99,000, allowing the broadcast to be watched repeatedly. ‘I want Islam to “level up”, where da’wah has a touch of entertainment so that the delivery is relaxed and easy to accept,’ Ivan said.
Furthermore, this vision of spreading goodness will not stop in Indonesia. The organisers have planned an expansion of Amazing Muharram to neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia next year, involving local workers and scholars. Concrete steps for this movement will begin soon, with the team departing for Tamiang, Aceh, for the groundbreaking of the Ar-Rahman Mosque. Responding to public demand, Ivan Gunawan immediately requested that construction also be focused on the Land of Papua.