Souvik K.
Google
One of the oldest mosques in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is located at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers and may be accessed via Jalan Tun Perak. The mosque was designed by British architect and soldier Arthur Benison Hubback, and built in 1909. It was the principal mosque of Kuala Lumpur until the construction of the national mosque Masjid Negara in 1965. The name "Jamek" is the Malay equivalent of the Arabic word jāmiʿ (جامع) meaning a place where people congregate to worship. It is also referred to as "Friday Mosque" by the locals. The architect was Arthur Benison Hubback who designed the mosque in the Indo-Saracenic style, loosely reflecting Indian Muslim Mughal architectural style.
The foundation stone of the mosque was laid by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sir Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah on 23 March 1908, and the Sultan officially opened the mosque on 23 December 1909. The construction of the mosque cost $32,625, funded in part by the Malay community with contribution from the British colonial government. Masjid Jamek served as Kuala Lumpur's main mosque until the national mosque, Masjid Negara, was built in 1965.
The mosque has since been expanded with extensions built, and the addition of a roof over the originally open-air forecourt. The mosque was refurbished in 1984 and the minaret nearest the river was underpinned as it was already sloping. One of the domes of the mosque collapsed in 1993 due to heavy rain, but has since been repaired.
On 23 June 2017, the mosque was renamed Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque by Selangor's Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah after his ancestor — the fourth Sultan of Selangor Sultan Abdul Samad — as the mosque was originally built on land that was part of the state of Selangor.
