The Mosque Tour

Thursday finally got here!!  That was the day that SSA was hosting the tour of Masjid Wilayah (Federal Mosque).  I had been signed up for this for a few weeks so I was very excited that the day had come.  I had even already figured out what I was going to wear - although this was pretty easy.  We were required to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts and we had to have something to cover our hair.  These were the rules of the mosque...no worries, got it covered!

I had my taxi driver pick me up at 8:15 AM so that I would have plenty of time to get there.  Traffic in the mornings here is horrible!  We were supposed to meet in front of the mosque at 9:45 and the tour started at 10:00.  I got there a little early which gave me time to walk around the outside and get some pictures...

These are just a few of the pictures I took before the tour started.  I will tell you, I took a lot more pictures than what will be posted here.  Otherwise, this entry would be very long!

It was easy to tell when others from the group showed up - they were taking pictures, just like I was!  As more of us showed up we gathered at the entrance where our tour would start.  There were a total of 24 of us signed up for the tour and only a few didn't show up...good turnout!  We learned a lot about the mosque itself and a little about Islam and the Muslim religion.  It was very interesting.  Don't worry, I'm not converting!  Since this is a Muslim country it was nice to learn a little about it.

We all know the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words" so in that spirit here are some pictures I took.  I will give descriptions beneath them...

This is looking up the stairs to the entrance.

These are the doors we entered though.  The designs on the door, we learned, are typical of most mosques.  They do not have idols or statues that they pray to...instead they use geometric and earthy designs.  This door had plant like designs.  Geometric shapes were used throughout the mosque.

This was the entrance into the prayer hall.

This chandelier is completely solar powered.  No electricity is run to it.  It is energized by many small windows that are around the top of the mosque.  You can see some in this picture.

All mosques have one of these...unfortunately I can't remember what it is called.  It is like an alcove in the wall.  Everyone that comes here to pray faces this as it is facing in the direction of Mecca.  This particular one is fashioned after the Taj Mahal.

This is the first verse of the Q'uran written in Arabic.  It is the top right corner of that section of wall.

This is the section below the verse.  Take a closer look...

The color on the wall is not paint.  It is precious gems.  They brought in the great-grandson of the guy that did the same work in the Taj Mahal.  It is a very tedious process.  The design is cut out of the marble then the great-grandson cut the gems to perfectly fit in the design.  It is very beautiful!

After we were finished in the prayer hall we continued the tour.  This is me in front of the "men's entrance" that opens out on the courtyard.  The prayer hall will hold 5,000 people while this area will hold another 4,000.  This area is usually only used during major prayer events when a lot of people will come to the mosque to pray together.

We found out that this mosque is the only one in KL that can service a person from the time they are seven days old until they die.  There are schools, a wedding hall and even an area that is used to prepare a body for burial.  At the end of the tour we had lunch and were sent home with all sorts of information about the mosque and the religion.

This tour definitely made for a good Thursday and now I was looking forward to Friday!  I had plans to meet a new friend in China Town for lunch.  Yay China Town!

See you next post!!

Monkey update:  as far as I know they don't have religion so I didn't see any at the mosque asking for blessings...