Abdul Gaffoor Mosque is located at 41 Dunlop Street in the Little India conservation district. Named after Shaik Abdul Gaffoor bin Shaik Hyder, it is also known as the Dunlop Street Mosque and Indian Mosque. It was built in the early twentieth century to replace the nearby Al-Abrar Mosque. Abdul Gaffoor Mosque was gazetted as a national monument in 1979.
Background
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Kampong Kapor area was an active business hub for Indian merchants and for those who worked at the old Race Course at Farrer Park. Kampong Kapor thus became a natural enclave for South Indian Muslim merchants and Bawanese syces and horse trainers. To serve the religious needs of the community, the first mosque was built in 1846 at a site near the present Abdul Gaffoor Mosque. Named Masjid Al-Abrar or Al-Abrar Mosque, this was a simple wooden structure with a tiled roof. In 1881, the Dunlop Street Mosque wakaf or endowment fund was established, and Ismail Mansor and Abdul Gaffoor were appointed trustees of the mosque. It was hoped that the dilapidated building would be renewed and its used revived.
Abdul Gaffoor, a Muslim Tamil, was the chief clerk with a firm of advocates and solicitors at the time. As a mosque trustee, Abdul Gaffoor obtained a permit to construct shophouses around the mosque. Eight shophouses and nine sheds were constructed in 1887, followed by another set of shophouses in 1903. Some of these shophouses and terraces on Dunlop Street and Mayo Street remain standing today as properties of the mosque. As income from these shophouses accumulated, the construction of a new mosque to replace the nearby wooden Al-Abrar Mosque began in 1907. When the new mosque was almost completed in 1910, the Al-Abrar Mosque was demolished.
By 1918, Abdul Gaffoor was the only surviving trustee of the mosque and its properties. He died in 1919 before the construction of the new mosque was completed, but in his will, he made provisions for the completion of the mosque's construction as well as for some rituals to be conducted in the mosque in honour of the Prophet Mohamed. Completed around 1927, the mosque was named after Abdul Gaffoor.
Abdul Gaffoor's will listed the wakaf's properties as the mosque, the nearby shophouses, a Muslim burial ground, and a house at Race Course Road. Unfortunately, his son mismanaged the properties, resulting in a large part of the attendant properties being taken over by the Muhammedan and Hindu Endowment Board in 1927. The mosque, currently owned by Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, was designated a national monument on 5 July 1979.
Architecture
Standing on a total area of 2,449 sqm, the mosque's unusual symmetry, layout and incorporation of Moorish details set it apart from other mosques. Architecturally, it is modelled after Saracenic and Roman designs. Apart from Islamic details, many Western classical motifs are also used in the architectural decoration of the mosque. The prayer hall is raised above ground level, and its interior features fine Arabic calligraphy and stained glass. The building stands above ground level and is surrounded by verandahs and balustrades on all sides. The balustrades are carved with circular and lancet-shaped openings at the base and are roofed with cinquefoil arches with elaborate designs.
The main entrance to the prayer hall is flanked on either side by a pair of graduated cinquefoil arched openings, and the entrance structure is decorated with elaborate carvings. Just above the entrance, there is a panel with calligraphic inscriptions, above which is a sundial flanked by miniature Corinthian columns that emits 25 rays of the sun decorated in Arabic calligraphy. Above the sundial is an onion-shaped dome, with a square minaret and a series of miniature columns and arches on each side.
At the centre of the prayer hall is a cupola, a hexagonal shaped tower that protrudes from the roof deck. The cupola has three levels: at the base are coloured glass window panes, followed by capitals and balustrades with bottleneck-shaped carvings. At the top is a large, onion-shaped dome with a star and crescent moon at the pinnacle, accompanied by minarets at the corners. The cupola sits on the rooftop directly above the prayer hall. A staircase located at the back of the building leads to the rooftop, which is a flat deck encircled by a parapet with at least 22 mini-minarets continuing the pattern of onion domes, crescent moons and stars. Inside the prayer hall, a panel with a passage from the Koran inscribed on it hangs above the mihrab. Next to the mihrab is a three-step, wooden mihrah.
The building is supported by clusters of large Corinthian columns at the four corners of the building. In addition, a number of pilasters and columns of Doric and Corinthian designs can be found at both the interior and exterior parts of the building. Another feature of the building is the single-leaf windows in some of the arched openings along the verandah. A pool near the mosque was replaced by a modern ablution area.
Restoration
A fund-raising campaign launched in 1994 and headed by A. G. Mohamed Mustapha, chairman of the mosque management committee, raised S$2.5 million for a meticulous restoration of the unique mosque. About S$1.9 million was used to convert the associated shophouses into the Miftahul Ulum madrasah. Restoration work on the main prayer hall commenced in 2000. The work included strengthening the foundation of the building and converting the basement to support an air-conditioned prayer hall. Four minarets with mini-domes that had been part of the mosque’s original blueprints but had disappeared over time were reinstated at the four corners of the flat roof. The mosque was also given a new coat of green and yellow paint. Restoration works cost at least S$5.5 million. The mosque was officially reopened on 16 May 2003, and can now accommodate up to 4,000 worshippers, most of whom are Tamil-speaking Indian Muslims.
In October 2003, Abdul Gaffoor Mosque received an Architectural Heritage Award from the Urban Redevelopment Authority in recognition of its innovative restoration and conservation works using a combination of traditional and modern architectural elements.
Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja
References
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(Call no.: RSING 915.957 EDW)
Ho, Karl. (2003, October 17). Awards laud fusion. The Straits Times, p. L3. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
Keys, P. (1982, January 10). Classic in design, rich in history. The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
Lee, E. (1990). Historic buildings of Singapore (p. 75). Singapore: Preservation of Monuments Board.
(Call no.: RSING 720.95957 LEE)
Lee, G. B. (2002). The religious monuments of Singapore: Faiths of our forefathers (pp. 90-93). Singapore: Landmark Books and Preservation of Monuments Board.
(Call no.: SING 726.095957 LEE)
Liu, G. (1996). In granite and chunam: The national monuments of Singapore (pp. 100 - 105). Singapore: Landmark Books and Preservation of Monuments Board.
(Call no.: R 725.94095957 LIU)
Matters Muslim – New committee appointed. (1927, July 16). The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), p. 14. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
Matters Muslim – The Dunlop Street Mosque. (1928, September 22). The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), p. 3. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
National monuments (p. 20). (1985). Singapore: Preservation of Monuments Board.
(Call no.: RQUIK 722.4095957 NAT)
Quek, T. (2003, May 15). Mosque gets new look just like in the old times. The Straits Times, p. 5. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
Samuel, D. (1991). Singapore's heritage: Through places of historical interest (p. 201). Singapore: Elixir Consultancy Service.
(Call no.: R SING 959.57 SAM)
Sankaran, R. (Ed). (2003). History in silence: Masjid Abdul Gaffoor. Singapore: Masjid Abdul Gaffoor.
(Call no.: RSING 297.355957 HIS)
Savage, V. R. and Yeoh, B. S.A. (2003). Toponyomics: A study of Singapore street names (p. 31). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
(Call no.: RSING 915.9570014 SAV)
Uma D. G., et al. (2002). Singapore's 100 historic places (p. 14). Singapore: Archipelago Press.
(Call no.: SING 959.57 SIN)
Urban Redevelopment Authority and Preservation of Monuments Board. (1991). Abdul Gaffoor Mosque preservation guidelines (pp. 4-5, 10-11). Singapore: Author.
(Call no.: RSING 363.69095957 ABD)
Work to restore mosque begins. (2000, November 19). The Straits Times, Home, p. 41. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
Yeow, S. (1997, February 13). Mosque raising funds for restoration. The Straits Times, p. 18. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
Zuzanita Z. (1998, November 26). Faces. The Straits Times, p. 52. Retrieved on August 13, 2010, from NewspaperSG.
Further readings
Abdul Gaffoor Mosque. (2010). Retrieved November 4, 2010, from Preservation of Monuments Board website: http://www.pmb.sg/
Wan, M. H. (2009). Heritage places of Singapore (pp. 173-175). Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 WAN)
The information in this article is valid as at 2010 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
