Friday, 3 Nov 2023

Part 1

Assalamualaikum. Today I will go to another mosque for Solat Jumaat, and I think it's called Masjid Al-Hassanah. It's about 5 kilometers from here. I've seen this mosque before, but I didn't have the opportunity to visit it, so hopefully today, yeah, I will go over there today. And yeah, I won't be bringing my camera. Should I bring my camera? But it's going to be difficult because I have nowhere to put it, so I think I'll just film and take pictures with my phone instead.

So, other than that I'll see you and your love. We'll talk again soon. Bye. Bye.

Part 2

Assalamualaikum, I'm back. This is the second part of Projek Masjid... I'm not sure which number this is, or where I am in the project. It's been two days, and today is Sunday. As you can see... I feel like the first clip might have shown me with longer hair, and now I have shorter hair because right after I finished my Projek Masjid, I went to get a haircut.

Anyway, I visited Masjid Al-Hassanah in Bangi. From the outside, it's okay. I mean, it's not bad, but it's also not that impressive. But who cares? It doesn't really matter because once you get inside... the architecture is okay, not bad. But the facilities are impressive. It's a well-equipped mosque with a lot of amenities, including a barber shop, a cafe, a merchandise shop, a tiny museum, and a playground for kids. It's a very well-functioning mosque, and isn't that how a mosque should be?

What sets this mosque apart from the ones I've visited so far in this project is that it's a very active mosque. There are a lot of activities, and one thing I think is crucial for an active mosque is having people living around it. That ensures the mosque stays active, if that makes sense. Another thing is that even though it's a very nice mosque when you look closely at the architecture, especially the dome, which is not a solid dome but more like a mesh structure. It allows for ventilation, which, in my opinion, is very nice. I've never seen a dome like that before.

The inside is okay, but it's very closed off when you enter the mosque. It needs a lot of lighting because there's not much natural light, making it really dark without any light. In my opinion, around the mosque compound, there are many amenities and facilities, indicating how prevalent the mosque is in the community's daily life. Obviously, you need the community as well.

One thing I noticed when differentiating between mosques that involve day-to-day communities and university mosques where students are there temporarily is that the type of activities differs. University mosques lack a permanent sense of community because once students finish their studies, they leave. It's like there's an expiration date for the community there. The type of activities and vibrancy in university mosques and those serving permanent communities differ, which makes sense.

Okay, one more thing about the mosque: the demographic of the communities there is mid-upper class, so it's well-funded. I'm not sure how mosque funding works here, but in some other states in Malaysia, despite having similar activities, they seem to struggle financially. It depends on the demographic of the communities around them.

Full video: