Stopover #10: Malabar Muslim Jama-ath Mosque

The Malabar Muslim Jama-ath Mosque or otherwise known as Golden Dome Mosque is located at 471 Victoria Street, Singapore 198370. This mosque is built in the traditional Islamic mosque architectural style and is the only mosque in Singapore that is totally managed by the Malabar Muslim Community.

(it's hard to get a full shot of the mosque, as its located beside a bustling road)

The Malabar Muslims are originally from Kerala in India, mainly traders dealing with textiles and jewellery. They settled down in Singapore from the early 19^th century and formed an association called the Malabar Muslim Jama’ath to take care of affairs relating to their community. The association then took up the task of constructing a mosque for of their own. Generous donations from the public help to finance the construction and it was officially opened on 24 Jan 1963 by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, Encik Yusoff bin Ishake.

In the 1990s, the Jalan Sultan area underwent redevelopment work and as a result, the mosque has an improved external façade (in 1995). The mosque's walls were originally simply painted but as you can see, it is now tiled with blue and white lapis lazuli tiles to suit the settings of its surroundings.

We found the cemetery at the rear of the building, however the gate to the cemetery was locked. We were unsure if it was permanently closed or because the timing was not right. We did take a peek inside the cemetery, the tombstones there were covered with a cloth, unlike the ones we saw at the Kubor Muslim Cemetery.

The Mosque now and then...