Kampung Hulu Mosque: A kind gesture of the Dutch

Bismillah.

We should thank the Dutch really. Unlike the earliest conqueror of Melaka, the Portuguese, the Dutch had actually encouraged religious pluralism and ordered the kapitan of the time to commission a mosque to replace Melaka's first mosque which the Portuguese had destroyed circa 1511.

Kapitans were considered as community leaders as they were usually socially active, influential and financially capable. The Kapitan Keling mosque in George Town Penang was also built (in 1801) by a kapitan, an Indian Muslim named Caudeer Mohudeen.

The construction of Masjid Kampung Hulu near the famed Jonker Street in Melaka was led by a kapitan by the name of Dato' Shamsuddin bin Arom in 1728 and it was later refurbished by Wazir al-Shaykh Omar bin Hussain al-Attas.

Masjid Kampung Hulu is Malaysia's oldest mosque.

Unlike many other mosques in Malaysia which mostly employed Arabic architectural styles, Masjid Kampung Hulu cherished the traces of Javanese and Chinese influences on the local communities. The only exception was that, brick and stone walls had been constructed instead of the typical wooden walls found in Javanese mosques.

Adorning the holy ground of this heavily visited masjid is a maqam of a wali - Sayyid Abdullah al-Haddad.

It is well known among the locals that this masjid is one of the few sacred places where one's petition will be granted. 

Allahu a'lam.

Masjid Kampung Hulu - built in 1728
Malaysia's oldest mosque
http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/malaysia/melaka/hulu

A sneak view inside the male/main prayer hall.

Ablution area.
Water is said to have miraculous properties.
Allahu a'lam

References:
http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=7484
http://www.mbmb.gov.my/masjid
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMA220_Masjid_Kampung_Hulu_Melaka_Malaysia
http://www.tourismpenang.net.my/index.php/Heritage-Buildings/kapitan-keling-mosque.html