Minnarets stand tall amid the skyscrapers

Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Singapore

Amid the towering glass and steel architecture of Singapore, it is thrilling to spy a glittering inlay of numerous minarets and domes of not one but many mosques that dot the island country.

The contrast is amazing, from the grandeur of the Sultan Mosque in Kampung Glam to the modesty of Masjid Hussein Sulaiman, with just zinc sheets for walls and a rooftop.

What helps to recognise a mosque in the end is not its dazzling architecture alone but the symbol of the crescent and star, no matter how humbly it is carved.

The other sign that a mosque has been found is the large empty space of the prayer hall. At the end of this space is a hollow niche in the wall and to its right the only furniture is a platform from where the sermon is given by the leader of the community.

Although Muslims are a small minority in Singapore, there are at least 71 mosques from various times, of dissimilar shape, size and color. The impact of Islam here is said to be considerable.

Dr. Albakri Ahmad, divisional director of religious affairs, Majlis Agama Islam Singapore (MUIS) and chairman of Madrasah Al- Irsyad management board, feels that Singapore needs madrasah (religious schools) to ensure that the community has a ready pool of a well educated, religious elite that can teach and lead other Muslims to contribute toward nation building.

Those budding scholars may be found at the mosques dotting the city state.

While the Malabar Mosque built by Muslim immigrants from the south Indian Malyalee community has a peacock blue facade and a golden dome, the leaning tower of the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque from 1825 looks more like a church steeple than a minaret. It was built in 1845 by a Malay heiress married to a Bugis. Here the waters of the quaint well are still used by worshippers to wash themselves before they enter the recently restored skylight roofed hallway leading into the main hall to pray.

Masjid Khadijah's scalloped arches are of Mughal Indian influence, but the niche inside has Indonesian patterns with the Masjid Al-Amin bearing resemblance to the sloping roofs found in West Sumatra. The columns at the Abdul Gafoor Mosque from 1907 are Corinthian and the working language here is Tamil, spoken among immigrants from Tamil Nadu, south India.

The mosque at Kampong Holland is one place famous for its sermons delivered in the English language.

Kampung Melaka's Masjid Omar in the heart of Singapore's business center remains the oldest place of worship for Muslims, dating back to 1820. Syed Omar bin Ali Aljunied, an Arab merchant from Palembang in southern Sumatra, built a simple mosque here that was fortified as a brick structure by his son Omar 35 years later. The place accommodates 500 worshippers and was officially declared a historical site last November. It is a focal point for all believers to this day.

Indian and Arab traders had come to the region armed not just with wares but also with Islam for the first time in the 12th century. Today it continues the mosque continues to be a favourite hub of office workers in designer suits who throng here in large numbers, especially for the afternoon prayer on Fridays.

It is in Kampung Glam on the banks of the Rochor river that Sultan Hussain Shah met the first British visitors to the island in early 19th century and eventually ceded Singapore to the East India Company.

Kampung Glam was home not just to the Malay people but sprawled into a cosmopolitan settlement of Muslims from different countries and cultural backgrounds to become Singapore's oldest Muslim quarter.

The scaffolding around the emerald green and delicately filigreed pillars of the ancient Masjid Al-Abrar, next door to the oldest Chinese temple dedicated in 1821 by Taoist-Buddhist to the mother of heavenly sages, resembles bandages wrapped lovingly by renovators involved in rapid repair work who promise to restore the mosque to its former glory.

New mosques with ultramodern facilities are constantly built along with the construction of a new public housing development area.

For most Muslims cannot imagine life without a mosque, which is considered to be not just a place of worship but a community center where they like to come to cleanse the body and soul.