Old mosque a legacy of Chinese

Old mosque a legacy of Chinese

By Aan Suryana and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak

After an absence of several Saturdays due to public holidays,
Save Old Batavia appears again with a story of two protected
mosques built by Chinese-Indonesian Muslims in the 1700s. They
are the famous Kebon Jeruk Mosque on busy Jl. Hayam Wuruk and Al
Anwar Mosque on Jl. Pangeran Tubagus Angke. Including an account
of a mysterious incident which happened at the protected Al
Muqarromah Mosque in Penjaringan, this is the 21st article in a
series on Jakarta's historical sites and buildings in the
Saturday editions of The Jakarta Post.

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian history has proven that the ethnic
Chinese, the minority, played significant roles in the daily life
of the locals, the majority.

They did not only contribute to business. They did not only
contribute to the culture which influenced local tradition.

Chinese-Indonesian Muslims have demonstrated their role until
today in the construction of several mosques across the country.

In the old days of Batavia, many Chinese-Indonesian Muslims
donated their money and devoted themselves to the building of
mosques.

The Kebon Jeruk Mosque on Jl. Hayam Wuruk 83, located in the
middle of the hectic Kota business district in West Jakarta, is
one of the popular Chinese-Indonesian mosques which still exists.

Its history started in 1448 when the people of the area built
a surau (small mosque), an opal-formed cupola with a thatched
roof of palm leaves supported by four pillars embellished with
carvings.

The news of the existence of the surau spread quickly across
the island of Java. Its fame also crossed the oceans and reached
other Muslims overseas, luring visitors from Asia for decades.

In the early 18th century, a group of Muslims from mainland
China led by ulema Chan Tsien Hwu, who was accompanied by his
wife, Fatimah Hwu, left their home to find the famous surau.

They were said to have left their home due to the oppression
of then emperor Chien.

Upon their arrival, the group found that the beautiful surau
was ruined by age and poor maintenance during the Portuguese,
English and Dutch colonization periods.

Captain Tamien Dosol Seeng, also known as Chan, who chaired
the Chinese-Indonesian Muslim community in Batavia between 1780
and 1797, then built a mosque to replace the old surau on the
same location in 1786.

Sacred place

For years, the mosque was a sacred place for many Chinese-
Indonesian Muslims living in old Jakarta.

The architecture is a rich blend of Indonesian, Arabic and
Chinese elements. Its interior is decorated with Moorish and
Dutch tiles emblazoned with animal and floral motifs. Some of the
tiles even portray biblical scenes.

A beautifully decorated grave lies in the mosque's yard.

The grave is of Fatimah Hwu, who died in 1792. To fulfill her
last wishes, her body was laid to rest in the yard.

The tomb's crypt is wonderfully decorated with Chinese writing
and dragons, as well as Arabic and Chinese ornaments.

A timeworn wooden speaker platform, embellished with
flowerlike cravings, was secured by the authorities and is
currently kept at the Jakarta History Museum.

In 1972, the Jakarta Administration issued a gubernatorial
decree which stated the status of the mosque as a protected
historical building.

The semi-modern mosque, which has a floor covered with ceramic
tiles, is known as a popular stopover for international
congregations who want to study Islam further.

According to senior clerics at the mosque, muslims from
Malaysia, India and the Philippines often come and stay for
several days to learn, among other things, tasawuf teachings.

"On the other hand, we also visit other old mosques abroad in
Asia and the Middle East several times to exchange knowledge at
our own cost," one of them said.

From Jl. Hayam Wuruk, the next stop is the Al Anwar Mosque on
Jl. Pangeran Tubagus Angke, which is only a few minutes drive
away.

Supriyatna, chairman of the mosque's board of management, said
that the mesjid (mosque) was built in 1751 by a Mongolian
identified only as Tan, alias Liong.

"Tan escaped from a massacre (an uprising against the ethnic
Chinese) carried out by the Dutch colonial under Jan Pieterszoon
Coen in the 17th century," the 70-year-old man said.

Charging the Chinese-Indonesians with starting a rebellion
against the Dutch occupation in the country, Coen and his men
arrested and slayed many of them in Pejagalan.

Unfortunately, no further details of Tan or his family could
be traced.

One of the original parts that still exist is a balcony in the
middle of the mosque. Supported with four poles and accessed by a
wooden staircase, the balcony was used in the past for the
muadzin to recite calls to prayer for Muslims in the
neighborhood.

Like many old mosques, the Al-Anwar Mosque also has several
graves belonging to noted local clerics.

Sixteen years ago, the mosque's staff received a fund of Rp 21
million for restoration work from the Jakarta Administration.
With the fund, they replaced the tiles on the walls and floors.

Supriyatna said they did not make any significant changes to
the mosque, except for the replacement of the tiles and painting
the walls.

Strange incident

Another mosque is the Al Muqarromah Mosque on Jl. Kampung
Bandan in Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

In 1984, locals said they witnessed a strange incident at the
site, which cannot be explained under normal circumstances.

Witnesses said one of the giant poles of a newly constructed
flyover which passed through the mosque suddenly collapsed.

"For unknown reasons, it toppled a day after it was
constructed," recalled Habib Ali As Syathri, a member of the
mosque management board.

After a discussion with the mosque management, the project
contractors agreed to move from its original site without
disturbing the position of the mosque.

The mosque, he said, was built in 1879 by Said Abdurrachman
bin Alwi Al Syadri. In its early days, it was called the Jami'
Keramat Kampung Bandan Mosque. It was changed to its current name
in 1978.

"He established the mosque simply after finding two graves at
the site."

The establishment of the mosque was intended to pave the way
for visitors to pray and ask for God's blessing," said Ali.

The graves were of two noted clerics in the area: Habib
Mohamad bin Umar Alkudsi, who was buried in 1697, and Habib Ali
bin Abdurrachman Alwi, who was buried in 1701.

Later, the founder of the mosque was also buried there.

Unlike many mosques in the country, the Al Muqarromah Mosque
posts a number of big pictures of several habibs from Saudi
Arabia, who they believe also brought Islam to this region.