Revitalizing roles and functions of mosques in Kuala Lumpur / Nur Athirah Khalit

This dissertation is a study on the original roles and functions of a mosque in
comparison to the current mosques in Malaysia focusing on the mosques in Kuala
Lumpur City centre. Mosque is an important building in Islam that represents the
establishment and creates the characteristic of Muslim society. A survey of the
literature on mosque suggests two different ideas of the mosques which are as a House
of God and a Community Development Centre. Due to its function as community
development centre, Kuala Lumpur City Centre has been chosen for the scope of study
given that it was the largest city in Malaysia that have high rate of population with wide
range of roles, functions, and features as centre of community development in
Malaysia. The objectives of the study are; to identify and investigate the roles and
functions of mosques in Islam in developing the community, to analyze and study
current management of the mosque, and to discover opportunities in the effort to
enliven the mosques institution. A proper research methodology was adopted for this
research in order to achieve the objectives. The methodologies include literature
reviews, case studies, observations and interviews. There are three case studies that
have been chose for the purpose of this research which are; Jamek Mosque, Kampung
Baru, As-Syakirin Mosque, KLCC, and Khalid Ibnu Al-Walid Mosque, Jalan Padang
Tembak. A comparison between roles and functions of each case study with the ideal
mosque during Prophet’s (p.b.u.h) time will be analyzed. From the analysis, it can be
said that current mosques in Malaysia are still practicing relatively the same roles as it
used to be during the time of Prophet (p.b.u.h), but in smaller scopes and target groups
due to inadequate facilities to supports its proper functions. Consequently, even though
the need to revitalize the roles and functions of mosque is not debatable anymore,
however there are still needs to discover opportunities to prosper the mosque. This
dissertation has also suggested some recommendations to improve the roles and
functions of mosque in Malaysia. As a conclusion, designers, architects, engineers, and
all stakeholders have to play important roles in prospering the mosque as it was during
the golden age of Islam.