New trip to the North - The Ubudiyah mosque and Perak royal mausoleum revisited...

OK. Among the places revisited in the recent trip to the North is the magnificent Ubudiyah mosque on top Bukit (hill of) Chandan in the Perak royal town of Kuala Kangsar...

For a bit of history of the mosque, open the above picture in another window...

A look inside the mosque...


One of the hall arches...



Just in front the mosque is the Perak royal mausoleum...

From the right side of the mosque one could see this section of the royal mausoleum housing tombs belonging to close kith and kins of Perak's 26th ruler, Sultan Abdullah, the sultan who was exiled by the British for his involvement in the killing of their first resident to Perak, J.W.W. Birch in 1875...

But first, have a look again at the mosque from an interesting angle...




Now, a look at the both the mosque and the royal mausoleum from it's furthest left-hand corner. For the record, in this section of the mausoleum lies the tombs of the closest kith and kins of Raja Muda Musa ibni (son of) Sultan Ja'afar, Sultan Abdullah's younger brother.



Closer to the mosque, just about 6 metres away from the tomb of Sultan Abdullah lies the tomb of my great-great-great grandfather (I'm a fifth generation descendant) Laksamana Raja Mahkota (royal admiral) Muhammad Amin. For the record, he is a cousin of the sultan.

The last time I visited this tomb earlier this year there was no fencing.

Now, it's not only properly fenced, there's also an information board telling a bit of his involvement in the killing of Birch and how he was also exiled along with the sultan, to the Seychelles islands in Africa 1877. Unlike the sultan though who got to return to Perak later, he was then exiled to Singapore and died there in 1905. Thank God, his body was returned to Perak in 2006 in full ceremony.

For the story, please read the old article The return of Admiral Muhammad Amin's remains to the royal mausoleum of Perak . Do also have a look to at the article In Perak's royal mausoleum to give justice to Laksamana Raja Mahkota Muhammad Amin...

New trip to the North - Lebuh Aceh mosque revisited...

Continuing from the article New trip to the North - places in Alor Setar revisited...

That night, after visiting (revisiting actually) a few other places, we arrived in Pulau Pinang. After dinner, we head straight for this place, the Lebuh Aceh mosque...

For the record, the mosque and its surroundings used to be main focal point for the local Malays.

In fact, it was the focal point for all Malays and Muslim from around the region to as far as Kelantan and Singapore. Before airplanes became the main mood of long distance travel, Muslims used to go for the pilgrimage to Mekah or Haj by ship. Pulau Pinang was the embarkation point and Lebuh Aceh was the place they congregated at for up to months before the long journey to the Arab peninsular began.




A closer look at the tower...

Time to go inside...

As my wife talked to the custodians of the mosque, my friend Shamsul took some proper photographs. For the record, this journey to the North (also the journey to the East Coast a month earlier and the South almost two months ago) was made to record some pictures and stories for an upcoming coffee-table book about mosques in Malaysia.

We also visited the tomb in front of the mosque especially that of Syed Hussein Aidid who opened up Lebuh Aceh. While the official statement says the mosque was built in 1808, the custodians said the correct year was 1795. And while Western-slanted history recorded Pulau Pinang as discovered and then developed by Francis Light in 1786 (excuse me for refusing to put the title Sir in front of his name), the custodians said Light actually borrowed money from Syed Hussein to develop the island!

The tomb of Syed Hussein... Al-Fatihah (recital of the Quran's opening verses) for him please.

While official history tried to belittle his actual importance by describing him as just a wealthy trader with some associating him with Aceh royalty, the fact is he was actually the Sultan (ruler) of Aceh, albeit for three days! Circumstances then including in-fighting from other members of the royal family forced him to abdicate the throne in favour of his son.

The truth is, he was actually deeply involved in the fighting against colonial rule especially that of the Dutch in Aceh. He used Pulau Pinang as a base to get weapons to help Aceh citizens fight against the Dutch.

While full frontal war against Aceh by the Dutch was only declared in 1873, there were numerous attempt to destablise the great Malay Islamic empire through several means since the early 17th Century. Often royalties were pitted against each other using diplomatic channels and this became the Western colonialists (English included) main modus operandi of conquest until the whole Malay archipelago succumbed to colonial rule by the middle of the 19th Century. That's all...

New trip to the North - places in Alor Setar revisited...

Peace be upon you all. Over a month ago, I made a series of articles based on places revisited when going to the East Coast. The series was ended with the article New trip to the East Coast - Masjid (mosque of) Kampung Laut revisited...

Last weekend, I went to the North and revisited some other places. So let me just make an article or two based on the visits ya... starting with this. Come! :]

Here's a picture of my wife staring out a window at a certain interesting building. I've just finished my prayers when I saw her in this pose and decided to snap a picture...

For information, we were inside an old mosque...

The old mosque which is totally made out of timber without the use of any nail had been salvaged with new zinc roofings. It is located in Langgar, 11km out of Alor Setar...

The mosque is very near to the Kedah royal mausoleum.

Then we visited the royal mosque called Masjid (mosque of) Zahir right smack in the middle of the city of Alor Setar.

The information board says the mosque was designed following that of the mosques in Langkat, Sumatera. Have a look at the design in the pictures below...

Just outside the compound across the road, there lies this building known as Balai Nobat, the places for keeping the royal instruments. Compare its design with the tower of the old mosque shown earlier. Some say that's how the Balai Nobat looks like before it was replaced with a concrete building early 20th Century. Done... :]

11th December 2008, the day I got hitched (again!)

Here is a picture of me signing a certain important document. For information, I just got hitched (as in married) again! (this is my second time)...

Eleven days ago, I wrote an article here titled What's on December 11th? . Well, that's what happened on that date... I got hitched. That aside from the fact that the movie "The day the earth stood still" was premiered at Malaysian cinemas.

By the way, I watched the movie with my dear wife last night. And for information the pictures in the article A family outing to Morib... made earlier tonight was taken just half an hour before the wedding. My family then were on the way from Kuala Lumpur to the bride's place at Tanjung Sepat some 100 km away.

We were scheduled to be at the village mosque in Tanjung Sepat for the occasion after the Zuhur prayers which should be around 1.30 pm but found ourself in front of Morib, 17 km away from the mosque with about 45 minutes to spare. Since we have the time and many of us have never been to Morib while the rest last went there decades ago, why not take a breather there.

So that should tie up the latest 3 articles here together. Good night everyone. Cheers! :]

A family outing to Morib...

Good day everyone. Today, unlike in past articles where I often show pictures of places I went to alone, I feel like sharing some pictures on an outing with my family... my extended family that is which includes some uncles, aunties and cousins . Come! :]

Seen here are a few members of my family facing the beach at Morib some 10km south of the town of Banting in Selangor...

At the same time, these other family members were frequenting a stall nearby...



They wanted to have sotong bakar or roasted squids...

So while some enjoyed the view towards the sea, others waited for the squids to be properly roasted...



Although it was low tide then, it was still a pretty sight for us...




The low tide made it walkable for more than 500 metres into the sea!





Many of my family have never been to Morib ever. The one's who have been here last made it something like more then 40 years ago! At least that's what my mum said...

She said the last time she was here was in 1963. I was not even born yet then! My dad interjected that they actually went there when both we're still studying at teacher's college. Then that must have been before 1975 or so. Either way, it's decades since they last stepped anywhere near this shore.






I'm sure this lot including my pretty cousin in front have never been to Morib before...

That's one cousin looking at the information board on the beach as my dad walks by...

Although Morib is not as famous as say Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan and they say the beach here is not so clean for swimming, it is still an interesting place for family outings...

Ah... time to enjoy our sotong bakar with some drinks...

I must say, everyone enjoyed this brief outing...

A last look at Morib. So some of you maybe wondering why did my family came here all wearing the traditional Malay clothes? Hehe... I'll tell you in the next posting. Cheers! :]

What's on December 11th?

Peace be upon you all. Today after the Jumaat prayers I went to the Galaxy shopping centre in Ampang. I went to the cinema lobby just to have a look at the latest offerings when I saw this poster saying "11.12.08 is the day the earth stood still"! What the... ?

OK. I do know that the poster actually refers to an upcoming movie titled "The day the earth stood still" starring the actor Keanu Reeves. And the date which is December 11th actually refers to next Thursday when the movie would be released for public showing. It's just the date also have some significance to me. But I can't tell you yet what's it all about. Not now...

Whatever, it makes me want to break the silence imposed on my blogspots since I achieved a certain number of postings over the last one week or so. Strangely, on the the other side of the cinema lobby, there's a smaller poster promoting the same movie except with this difference... it says, "12.12.08 is the day the earth stood still". Again, what the... ?

Oh, by the way. To all Muslim readers, happy Aidil Adha this Monday. Cheers! :]

New trip to the East Coast - Masjid (mosque of) Kampung Laut revisited

OK. Continuing from New trip to the East Coast - Muhammadi mosque revisited and some views of Kota Bahru . Later that day, I went some 15 km south-west of Kota Bahru to visit a certain old mosque. Come! :]

Here is the mosque of Kampung Laut, an olden mosque built totally out of timber without the use of any nails and such...

This mosque to me is so splendid despite its apparent simplicity that I believe I have done a few pieces on it in my blogspots. For example, have a look at the old articles Masjid Kampung Laut, enough said! and Latest pictures of the famous Masjid (mosque) of Kampung Laut in Kelantan...


For a brief information on the mosque, read this...

A story of how the mosque was relocated from it's original location at Kampung Laut some 6 km north-east of Kota Bahru...

On the design...

The tower for calling out azan or the call to prayers...

A look at the three-tiered roofing system...

I went inside and saw this door open...

So I decided to have a look at what's inside...

For the first time ever, I climbed up the azan tower. Here is a view of the university hostel nearby...

One could get a good look of the topmost part of the mosque's main roof at this level...

The university campus in front seen from the next level...

And a look at the car I arrived in. For the record the whole carpark area seen here used to be outside the mosque compound. Now, the outer walls have been expanded to included this piece of land...

Time to get to the topmost level of the tower...

Had a nice snap of the topmost main roof...

And now, a better look at it...

Part of the mosque complex, its left side that is...

The front side and the main compound...

This latest trip also made me more particular with the architecture and interior design...

A certain wooden part potruding out of the roof inside the main praying hall. It actually extends to the topmost part as seen from the azan tower.

Some of the wood-carvings alongside...

The back left-side part...

A last look at the mosque. That's all. For the record, this is the 262nd posting in this blogspot, a mulitple of the number 131 which carries a certain meaning to me. So I would rest from making any new postings here for a while ya. That's all... cheers everyone! :]