Abdul Gaffoor Mosque, Singapore
Copyright © Timothy Tye.
Abdul Gaffoor Mosque
41 Dunlop Street
Abdul Gaffoor Mosque, variously written as Masjid Abdul Gaffoor, Abdul Gafoor Mosque, Abdul Gafor Mosque, Abdul Gaffor Mosque, Abdul Gaphore Mosque, Abdul Gapore Mosque, Dunlop Street Mosque and Indian Mosque, is an Indian Muslim mosque located at Dunlop Street off Jalan Besar.
Abdul Gaffoor Mosque is located in Kampong Kapor, an area with a high concentration of Indian Muslim merchants. Previously, there was another mosque on that site, called Masjid Al-Abrar, built of timber in 1846 to serve the religious needs of the South Indian Muslim merchants and Baweanese syces and horse trainers residing in Kampog Kapor.
In 1881, a deed of assignment created the Dunlop Street Mosque Endowment, or wakaf, for the purpose of building a mosque for the Muslim community there. Also placed in trust are several other properties including a Muslim burial ground and a house in Race Course Road. The burial ground was closed in 1921.
The shophouses around the mosque was built in 1903. The person who spearheaded the construction was Shaik Abdul Gaffoor. Rental collected generated the income that was used to build the new mosque. Construction started in 1907 but the actual completion date is not certain. In 1910, the old mosque was demolished when the new mosque was still partially completed. When Shaik Gaffoor died in 1919, the mosque was apparently still not completed. After his death, his son took over the management of the mosque and the wakaf properties. When the Dunlop Street Endowment was taken over by the Muslim and Hindu Endowments Board in 1927, the building was presumably completed.
Today, the mosque stands facing a row of shophouses that are used for Qur'an classes and other subjects, as well as for communal activities. A major restoration of the building was carried out in 2003.
Masjid Abdul Gaffoor was gazetted as a national monument on 13 July 1979.
Another view of Abdul Gaffoor Mosque
Copyright © Timothy Tye.
