A Walk to Istiqlal Mosque

The blue sky above Istiqlal's white dome

The sky that day was like the other day this season, it was clear and concise. Maybe it was a blessing from the god that I would be able to go rather far to saw the religious teachers (syaikh) from Arab who’d come to Istiqlal Mosque that afternoon.

Istiqlal Mosque is a mosque located in Central Jakarta. It is a mosque which could be called Indonesian National Mosque. The mosque was built from August 24th 1951 and finished in 22 February 1978. The architect who designed this mosque which said to be The Biggest Mosque in Southeast Asia was Frederich Silaban, a gifted architect from South Sumatera that didn't had any formal architecture education but won several major architecture awards.

From my place, I had to take a train there. Once I arrived in the nearest station, which is Juanda Station, I just had to walk accross the street. It was so close that you could see the mosque after descending the stairs out of the train station. I took the crossing bridge and walk a little further. My suggestion for you, do not take the ojek or bajaj for they will ask you to get on, just decline them in good manner and walk instead because the place you are heading to is right in front your eyes.

From the back gate opening, I need to walk for about 100 meters more to the entrance. Walking on the pedestrian, I saw a contrast like beauty and the beast. The mosque was so massive in size and the design made it looks so strong but gentle at the same time. In contrast, in front of it I saw a very dirty river flowing which one of its end there was a big pile of garbage floating idly stuck in a small dam.

Jakarta Cathedral Church

Right accross the main gate of the mosque, I saw a big and beautiful church. It was the Jakarta Cathedral Church. The two buildings facing each other is just like the harmonic relationship of most people with various believes in Indonesia. I could also saw them from the warm welcome the mosque employee to the foreign tourists who want to see around the mosque. As I took off my shoes to enter the mosque, I saw American and Korean tourist flocks entering the mosque before me.

Inside the mosque, I saw many things. There are three area in general, the first floor, the main floor, and the floors above the main floor. On the first floor first, I observed there were wudhu area and toilets, guest rooms, to religion consultation area which operated from 10 AM everyday (kind of not sure about it though). One thing that I thought was unique from the first floor was the toilets. There were two kinds of toilets, the asian style and sitting style, which accomodate two different culture. Moreover, the toilets and the water tub was made of tin that you could feel the cold tin touching them.

The reporter from a private tv station

Before ascending the stairs to the main floor, my dad who came along with me got interviewed by a couple of reporters. Before the interview, they made my dad wore some kind of microphone so his voice would be recorded nicely. They asked his opinion about the hijab style young females in Indonesia had these days. Asking for religion related issues, Istiqlal Mosque is often used as news scouting spot so got interviewed there wasn't a big issue for someone who often went there.

The second floor was the main floor. It was meant to be a place for praying. The main chamber was covered with red carpets. There were tin covered pillars supporting the dome in circle. The dome interior was also magnificent. If the golden dome mosque was great outside, this one looks better inside. There were also arabic caligraphy engraved on the lower circle of the dome. Beside the dome, the front wall which people face during the prayer was also beautiful. Covered with granite stone, there were two big arabic caligraphy of Allah and Muhammad on the right and left. In the middle, there was a big caligraphy of “Laa ilaa ha illa-Allah” means “There’s no god except Allah”. Around it, there were 99 smaller golden caligraphy of the names of Allah. In the evening, I saw a more beautiful view of the wall. There were yellow lights glowing from behind the middle wall. It looks so beautiful and adds the beauty of the caligraphies and the artistic decorations around them.

The floors above the main floor was just extra floors. They were meant for people who could’t have their place on the main floor or for women. They were also used to take a better picture of the main floor by the tourists I saw that day. Some of them also watched our prayer while taking their pictures.

The crowd of prayer and religion study that day

Overall I thought Istiqlal Mosque was a place that could represents Indonesian moslems’ religious activity. We could see the building architecture, the employees, and people praying there. We could see the interaction of Indonesian moslems, local moslems and moslems from abroad living in Jakarta, and moslems and non-moslems. Beside the Monas (National Monument of Indonesia), this one is a great place you have to add in your destination list if you visit Jakarta. See you later!

Source: id.wikipedia.org