Stopover #7 Arab Street

Now we enter the street known for its myriad of to-die-for textiles, Arab Street which is now near located next to North Bridge Road. It was a residential place for the Arabs who migrated to Singapore. This street was believed to be where the influence of Middle East came and originated from. Hence, it was named Arab Street. It was the "town centre" and was hence the shopping and trading centre for muslims in Singapore.

The Muslim pilgrims travelling to Mecca also slept in Arab Street before setting off on a large steam ship. As a Muslim, I feel enlightened and somewhat relieved as we now do not have to spend overnights in Kampung Glam or Arab Street anymore while waiting for the airplane (but of course travelling was by ships then – only the more reasons to thank technology!) to take them off to Mecca. We now have the luxury of staying in our own homes the night before.

Nevertheless, the cultural tradition of a large group giving a good farewell for the pilgrims is still present. Prior to setting off, a ‘kenduri’ or a ceremony where relatives gather to offer prayers of safe return and for the pilgrimage to be accepted by God will be held.

We asked another man who worked in a perfume shop near Masjid Sultan and according to him, there was no real owner of Arab Street. The street was mainly owned by the Arabs because they lived there.

The names in Arab Street reflects the cities in different parts of Middle East. For example, Bussorah Street is a city available in Iraq. Its original spelling, however is ‘Basrah’. Kandahar, on the other hand, is a place in Afghanistan. These streets definitely represent the Muslim foreign merchants from the Middle East who came to Singapore.

We were wondering about the items sold here back then. While walking along the street, we noticed shops selling “Sheesha” and assumed that this too was influenced by the foreign merchants from the Middle East, since it is common in Middle East now. Hence, we made the conjecture that the shops back then offered this service but were told otherwise. Back then, it sold textiles and batiks.