Monday, February 12, 2018

Istiqlal Mosque - Jakarta | Mukena | Bandung's Cipaganti Mosque

Bismillah.

Assalamualaikum folks,

Happy Monday. My thoughts are with those of you at the office. LOL. I am on holiday for 11 days YaHuu Allah Kareem.

Here's a lil sharing from me for those who are not familiar with this region. The biggest mosque in South East Asia is located in Jakarta Indonesia. Jakarta is situated on the west side of Java island which has the highest concentration of Muslim population.

What is unique about this mosque other than its size is the simple functional architecture in terms of natural ventilation. It's made of steel, therefore, maintenance is minimal and less of a burden. I am not an architectural expert but I noticed some clever features of the mosque. Just that I hope they (and all other prominent mosques elsewhere) would have an escalator and make it wheelchair-friendly. There's an elevator at Istiqlal but it's only made available on Fridays, this I was told.

Another uniquely striking feature is that women get to pray alongside men in the main prayer hall. There's a low-height partition in between, so for those who are not used to this open concept, might feel a little uncomfortable.

As a tourist, I was excited that I was able to capture the mosque's minaret and the famed Monas - Jakarta's iconic National Monument, in one frame.

Masjid Istiqlal - Jakarta
Minaret on the left. Monas on far right.

On the same note, as a tourist, I was impressed by the cleanliness and quality of mukena (woman's prayer gown) at Istiqlal mosque, the musolla at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport and also Cipaganti mosque. The mukena at the latter were so pretty!


Prayer garments (mukena) at Jakarta airport.
Two thumbs up!

Once again, I wish you a happy Monday.

From Penang with sweet trifle love 😁




And here are some clips I took at Bandung's oldest mosque Masjid Cipaganti, built by a Dutch who was a Muslim revert, Mr. CP Wolf Schoemaker in 1933, three years after embracing Islam. The plot of land was a gift from a local lady by the name of Nyi Oerki, wife of a wealthy Italian chocolate manufacturer in Bandung at that time. 



Main entrance to Masjid Cipaganti,
the oldest mosque in Bandung, built in 1933


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