The Building of Mosques

Masjid Al-Muttaqin, 2001

Masjid Al-Amin, 2001

Mosque Building Fund

An important development in the history of mosques in Singapore was the establishment of the Mosque Building Fund (MBF) in 1975. The MBF provides a system to collect funds for building mosques through optional deductions of a fixed amount from the monthly salary of Muslims through the Central Provident Fund (CPF). In the beginning, the minimum donation was 50 cents, today it is between $3 to $5 depending on the person's income. The MBF funds the purchase of land and the construction of mosques to serve the Muslim residents of new public housing estates. These mosques were designed and built by the Housing Development Board (HDB) until 1994. The Mosques Division of Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) is now responsible for erecting mosques - it coordinates design competitions to select an architectural firm to build a mosque.

The task of furnishing new mosques, or of maintaining and redeveloping older mosques, is left to the management board of the mosque (which is composed of volunteers), and its fund-raising activities and resources. Community effort is what keeps mosques in good shape.

Exhibition is on at the Asian Civilisations Museum till 31 December 2002. This document is part of a joint project of the Asian Civilisations Museum and the University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore. The images and accompanying text appear here with the kind permission of the Asian Civilisations Museum.

Last updated: February 2002