Throne Room Transformed Into Mosque

Kota Baharu, Malaysia - In the 1950s there were plans to demolish the throne room at the royal residence of the Raja Dewa Tuan Zainal Abidin, the son of Kelantan`s Sultan Muhammad III.

Raja Dewa`s residence was located close to the Istana Balai Besar in Kota Baharu and the wooden throne room built in year 1900 was to make way for the expansion of the palace.

The news soon reached several palace servants living in Kampung Kedai Mulong, near here, who believed the beautiful throne room can be salvaged and reused.

Though at that time the structure appeared shabby because it has been abandoned since World War II, the residents of Kampung Kedai Mulong unanimously decided to find a way to salvage the throne room.

At that time, the villagers did not have a proper place for congregational prayers and thus they saw that the throne room can serve as a mosque at their place.

This brief history of the Mulong Old Mosque, located about 11km from Kota Baharu, was related to the writer by the National Heritage Department`s (NHD) Principal Assistant Director of the Archeology and Conservation Division, Mat Nasir Baba.

Throne Room Transformed Into Mosque

Dwelling deeper, Mat Nasir explained that the price tag of RM1,000 was set by the palace for the throne room and the villagers went ahead with their decision to buy.

They pooled their money and immediately started work in shifting the structure to the new site.

They started dismantling the building by separating the floor and the roof structure and carefully transported them on a lorry to the new site at Kampung Kedai Mulong.

The new location is actually by the roadside sitting on a piece of land bequeathed for a mosque by Abdul Rahman Ismail, also known as Pak Su, and thus the new mosque was named Ar-Rahman Mosque.

“The whole building was reassembled like how it originally appeared through community work but this time a mihrab niche (indicating the direction of Mecca) and a verandah at the entrance were added,” he said.

The mosque measuring 23 feet by 55 feet was ready for use in 1958. The new mosque could accommodate up to 100 people at any one time.

A Unique Mosque

As the mosque was originally a throne room, it has many unique features linked to the royalty. Even its construction method is unique. There is hardly any nail used to erect the structure and instead mortise and wedges hold the building together. On the whole, the structure highlights the best of Kelantanese craftsmanship that is now rare.

The design may be simple but it is often found in palaces and homes of the aristocracy in the state in the early days.

“This uncomplicated design can be seen in the overall structure of the building, the walls, doors, pillars and the chimney and often they are almost devoid of carvings,” he said.

The building`s architecture in fact combines many of the Kelantanese Malay and Chinese elements and this structure is built without a centre beam. Instead 16 surrounding pillars fortify the structure.

From the modern engineering viewpoint, it is feared that structures without beams at the centre may not last long but the master builders of the early days have proved otherwise in their design of the throne room.

The centre beam will need vertical support and this means there has to be pillars at the centre of the throne room. This will reduce the open space needed for functions and that is why builders avoided the centre beam.

Mat Nasir pointed that even the floor is not supported by long cross-beams between the pillars. It is actually suspended on 32 legs (vertical support).

“In ordinary cases there is no need for so many legs to support. But because there is no long beams, the floor has to be supported by other means and that is why there are so many legs,” added Mat Nasir.

A National Heritage

The mosque is today listed as among the 11 heritage buildings in the country.

Actually the Mulong Old Mosque is very special, not only because of its beautiful and unique design but also because of its history.

Mat Nasir pointed out that if weren`t for the efforts of the villagers, especially the late Cikgu Hamzah Mahmud, the NHD would not have known the building`s significance.

“The late Cikgu Hamzah is the one who pushed for the conservation along with NHD`s commissioner Prof Emeritus Datuk Siti Zuraina Majid but unfortunately Cikgu Hamzah passed away about one month after the mosque was handed over to the department for conservation purposes on 22 Nov 2008,” he said.

Conservation

As soon as the Old Mosque of Mulong was listed as a heritage building, the conservation of the structure began.

It involved the preservation of the wood, scrapping of the old paint on the pillars, the walls within and without, the decorated panels (panel janda berhias) and others works.

The conservation work also involved another relocation exercise, something inevitable due to the problems relating to the actual land area bequeathed to the mosque.

“The mosque was moved 21 feet forward and 11 feet to the right using the chain-lock method and it took eight days to complete the whole process,” explained Mat Nasir.

While the workers were scrapping old paint on the `janda berhias` panels on the original walls of the throne room, they found carved flower motifs on the panels.

“These flower motifs will be preserved like the original history of the throne room,” noted Mat Nasir.

The ventilation openings with geometrical carvings allow airflow to cool down the interior.

Now A Landmark

Now, after eight months of restoration works, the Ar-Rahman Mosque or better known to the locals as Mulong Old Mosque has reappeared with its old charm.

The Mulong Old Mosque is located not far from the Kampung Laut Mosque and is right by the main road. It is no longer officially used for Friday prayers like previously but it still attracts the attention of those passing the road and those who want to pray.

A member of the mosque committee Ahmad Farid Mahmood noted since the completion of the restoration works many people are coming to take a look at the building.

This is especially so after the building was officiated by the Minister of Information Communication and Culture Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim on last July 17.

Source: http://www.bernama.com
Photo: http://www.worldisround.com

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