We visited the National Mosque today

Yesterday, I reminded my sister, "eh, we are scheduled to go to the national mosque tomorrow". She was like "OHHH... good thing you reminded me".

Both of us are taking the course on World's Religion 2. The lecturer arranged for the class to visit the national mosque today. It seems we are not allowed to visit the mosques here in our State. So 11 of us went up to Kuala Lumpur to meet 7 of our classmates at the entrance of the national mosque.

This is the entrance of the mosque.

All the ladies had to wear this purple thingy to cover... uh.. our heads, I think. Men with shorts had to wear these too. If I'm not mistaken, the material is made of polyester...gosh.... it was a really really humid day and wearing this garment made me perspire. At the end of the tour, I hung it up again, for the next person to wear it. (Not very hygiene).

We had to take off our shoes too.

Inside the mosque compound.

Inside the mosque. Right in the middle of this hall, is the "Mehrab" which is a prayer niche on the wall indicating the direction of the "qiblah" (direction of the Ka'bah in Mecca). The imam would stand there and lead the congregational prayer.

This auditorium can accommodate up to 3000 people. During Friday prayers, Muslim men would gather in mosques for prayers and this whole building can accommodate up to a maximum of 20,000 men.

The roof from the pinnacle to the ground is 84 feet. This mosque was build on a 3 acre land in 1961.

Hey, look at the clock.Looks kinda interesting. The picture next to it is the "mimbar" where the imam would deliver his sermons on religious or moral matters during a religious gathering.

These 48 pillars depict the tents of the Arabs during the nomadic period.

The minaret that symbolised 1 religion, Islam as the country's religion. It is 71.6meters tall. The imam would climb to the top of the minaret and call out prayers 5 times a day.

The entrance to the warrior mausoleum. There are 7..um... spaces, 4 had been taken up, left only 3.

Inside the mausoleum.
Surroundings of the mausoleum.

We had an interesting morning. We learnt a lot from our Muslim friends. I can remember one very clearly; Muslims were taught to respect their mother first, then only their father. :)