Photograph of Ustaz P. T. Yusuf at Masjid Malabar, 1999

In the past, the khatib - the person who reads the sermon - would prepare the Friday khutbah (sermon) himself. In Singapore today, a committee chaired by MUIS (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) works on the content of the weekly Friday khutbahs, which serves as a guide to all mosques.

Masjid Malabar was built by the Singapore Indian community from Kerala and is the only mosque in Singapore where one can hear the khutbah in Malayalam. As the majority of Muslims in Singapore are Malay, most mosques will have their khutbahs read in Malay, but there are a number of mosques with the khutbah read in English one Friday every month. The present imam for Masjid Malabar is Ustaz Yusuf. A native of Kerala, India, he delivers the khutbah in Arabic before he reads its translation in Malayalam.

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 image and accompanying text appear here with the kind permission of the Asian Civilisations Museum.

Last updated: February 2002