Penang Mosques

Mosques in Georgetown

INTRODUCTION

 George Town (now Georgetown) is now a maze of lanes, roads, streets, and highways. It was easier to get to a place within Georgetown in the early 1980s. Today, it is impossible to drive without going into wrong lanes in Georgetown. The one-way street signs have made it more difficult. However, there is still hope in getting around the maze - the masjid jamek can certainly help. Each masjid jamek is unique and has a mihrab that faces qiblat, so that helps with street orientation.

Penang jamek mosques are plenty and they serve as landmarks (masjid sebagai mercu tanda). There are 3 useful landmark mosques in Georgetown: Masjid Jamek Titi Papan in Jalan Burma, Masjid Jamek Jalan Hatin in Jalan Hatin, Masjid Jamek Pintal Tali in Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong.



Burma Road (Jalan Burma)
This road is parallel to Jalan Hatin, and closer to the sea. Jalan Khoo Sian Ewe opens to Jalan Burma. The landmark mosque at this junction is Masjid Jamek Titi Papan.

Masjid Jamek Titi Papan
Masjid Jamek Titi Papan is in Jalan Burma (Burmah Road), at the corner of Jalan Burma and Jalan Khoo Sian Ewe. This is a Chinese area with Chinese eating/coffee stalls (kopitiam), houses, shops and trishaw.

On 27 May 2012, I met with Tok Chu at his residence in Air Itam. Tok Chu's wife is the youngest and only daughter of the Imam of Masjid Titi Papan. His wife is Hendon bin Ahmad, who is also the mother of Prof. Ahmad Murad Merican (graduated in Mass Communication, USM).

According to Tok Chu, in the old days, the drain (parit) was so big that even sampans and tongkangs sailed right up to the mosque. A wooden plank was used as a footbridge to get to the mosque, and hence the mosque was named Masjid Titi Papan. Titi papan is Malay for a wooden plank that was used as a footbridge.

PHOTO 1. Masjid Titi Papan in Jalan Burma (old Burma Road), Georgetown, Penang

Hutton Lane (now Jalan Hatin)
Hutton Lane (now Jalan Hatin) is a memorable lane. It once had a shop where USM staff celebrated farewell lunch. It also once housed the private clinic of Sir KM Ariff (Dr Kamil Mohamed Ariff bin Kadir Mastan). It has a mosque - Masjid Jamek Jalan Hatin. It has a school - Sekolah Melayu Chowrasta, now renamed to Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Tanjong, Jalan Hutton. The school building is still the old pre-war building.

Masjid Jamek Jalan Hatin
Masjid Jamek Jalan Hatin is in Jalan Hutton (Hutton Lane), across the road from Sekolah Sri Tanjung, Jalan Hatin, Penang.

PHOTO 2. Masjid Jamek Jalan Hatin in Jalan Hatin (old Hutton Lane), Georgetown, Penang

Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong
This is a wide road which once housed a big pottery shop on the right, just after KOMTAR. It runs by KOMTAR and opens into 3-lane Magazine Road at the traffic lights. There is one bright yellow-green landmark mosque on the left, just after KOMTAR, before the traffic lights. This is Masjid Jamek Pintal Tali.

Masjid Jamek Pintal Tali
Masjid Jamek Pintal Tali is in Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong and can be viewed from KOMTAR. Pintal tali is Malay for twisted rope. What is the history of this mosque? How did it get its name?

I didn't see any twisted ropes in the vicinity of the mosque nor were ropes made here. It could be that this area was nearby Sungai Pinang and served as a landing place for small to medium boats which were tied to the dock, pier or jetty. Why were twisted ropes used? Anyway, ropes are made from twisted jute fibres. So why the additional adjective, pintal (twisted)? Maybe the ropes really became twisted (entangled) and could not be laid down straight as they were really entangled? But fishermen can't be that negligent to leave their ropes twisted? Maybe twisting referred to how the ropes were tied to the docks? More Sherlock Holmes assignment here!

PHOTO 3. Masjid Jamek Pintal Tali in Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong, viewed through a glass window at KOMTAR, Georgetown, Penang

PHOTO 4. Masjid Jamek Pintal Tali viewed from a moving car, Georgetown, Penang

Other mosques in Georgetown, Penang are the Malay Acheen Street Mosque (Masjid Melayu Aceh) and the Masjid Kapitan Keling (the Indian mosque).

Links:
Masjid Melayu Aceh
Masjid Kapitan Keling

Kampong Glam in Singapore

Under the British administration of the Straits Settlements, the community was separated and lived in different regions at each settlement, whether in Penang, Malacca or Singapore. While the Europeans lived in cooler areas such as hills, hillocks and foothills, the rest lived in the hot plains. 

The Muslims lived in their respective areas assigned - Arabs, Bugis, Javanese,  and Malay. The Chinese tended to farming, growing mainly vegetables and rearing pigs. The Indians lived alongside the Muslims, mostly near seaside villages where coconuts grow aplenty. 

The Malays are dependent on the coconut trees for nira (nectar) which is used for making palm sugar, gula Melaka or gulo keret in Kelantan accent. Palm sugar is a main ingredient for making a gooey Malay delicacy, dodol. Palm sugar is a rich source of vitamin B. The Indians need coconuts for coconut milk (santan) for making curry. 

The Malays and Indians use asam Jawa and asam keping to slightly sour their cuisines. Malay and Indian dominated areas are easily discernible to a passing tourist as they have mosques, tamarind trees (pokok asam Jawa) and pokok asam keping. Other trees are pokok cekur & keloh which are a rich source of iron. Keloh beans are used in curries. They are noted to stimulate forceful contractions which are advantageous  in maternal delivery.

While many Penang Muslims lived near Masjid (Melayu) Jamek  Lebuh Aceh in Kampung Melayu, and Kampung Dodol near Masjid Pawanchee along Perak Road, most of the Singapore Muslims live in Kampung Glam and around Masjid Sultan. 

"Gelam"or "Glam" after which Kampong Glam is named could refer to pokok gelam, a mangrove tree whose woods (kayu gelam) are used for firewood and for making charcoal (kayu arang or arang). Pounded charcoal has been used by the Malays for brushing teeth to make them white; this was before the invention of toothpaste.

Istana Kampong Gelam restored to its former grandeur. It now houses the Malay Heritage Centre of Singapore.

85 Sultan Gate (front entrance to Istana Kg Gelam)



The front of the palace with the fountain working. The palm trees look like pokok pinang. Pokok gelam is the one with small leaves.



Affandi at the side entrance to Istana Kampong Gelam

External links:
Kampung Gelam video from Heritage TV Season 2, Singapore
http://yesterday.sg/
http://kudaranggi.blogspot.com/2012/09/istana-kampong-gelam-kini-taman-warisan.html

Masjid Melayu (Jamek) Lebuh Acheh, Georgetown, Penang

It is popularly known as Masjid Acheh. It was founded in 1808 (after Masjid Kapitan Keling was built). The philanthropist was Tengku Syed Hussain Idid, who donated his land (wakaf). His grave is at the rear/kiblat side of the masjid. The compound houses Masjid Acheh, 2 big old wooden houses (one is not used), an old kampung house on stilts with ceramic roof tiles & walls painted black. There are a few blocks of modern townhouses which border the front entrance of the grounds. There are two major entrances to the grounds, one on Lebuh Acheh directly faces the minaret, and the other is nearer the ablution venue. There are passages/alleys in between the blocks of townhouses.

More photos of Masjid Acheh in my Facebook album.

Kapitan

Kapitan = headman (Malay, ketua)

Kapitan Kling refers to Cauder Mohideen / Kader Mydin / Kadir Merican of George Town, Penang.
He was responsible for the construction of Masjid Kapitan Keling.
The hot & spicy Kari Kapitan served in Penang is named in his honour.
His younger brother is Noordin Merican (sometimes written as Merican Noordin)
The Bangunan Noordin within the grounds of Masjid Kapitan Keling is named after Cauder's younger brother, Noordin.

Kapitan China refers to Yap Ah Loy of Kuala Lumpur. He was a mining tawkey and was responsible for the development of early KL.

Kapitan Melayu refers to Tengku Syed Hussain Idid (sometimes spelled as Aidid) of Kampong Melayu, Acheen Street (Lebuh Acheh), Penang, an Acehnese prince who donated (wakaf) his land for the construction of Masjid Melayu (Jamek) at Malay Town in Penang.

Masjid Acheh, Penang

Lebuh Acheh Mosque
Acheen Street Mosque 
Penang

History

This is my assumption of the history of Masjid Acheh...

Cauder Merican had built Masjid Kapitan Keling after he became a successful entrepreneur. He had travelled to many places in the region including north Sumatera. The people of Acheh could have been among the pioneer batch of builders of Masjid Kapitan Keling.

Why are there two mosques within close reach of each other? This, I do not understand. When there must be a minimum of 40 men assigned to each mosque, how can there be another mosque nearby? There must be some reason.

A plausible reason could be that the sermons at Masjid Kapitan Keling were delivered in the native tongue (Tamil or Urdu?) which the Acheh people could not understand. They therefore built another mosque where the Acheh language was used (till today?).

Another reason could be, there was insufficient space at Masjid Kapitan Keling that the Acheh people constructed another mosque nearby.

Yet another reason could be that the Acheh people lived in that area, populated that area, there were so many of them (more than 40 men and families) and they wanted a mosque in that area for themselves. They could be Indonesians from Acheh and Riau.

The real reason for having two beautiful mosques within close range of each other is unknown.

Author's photos of Masjid Acheh viewed from Masjid Kapitan Keling's minaret, 19 Nov 2008.

 Masjid Acheh Internet pics.

Masjid Acheh from Izaham Musa's Facebook (used with permission, 25 January 2010).