Architectural Style of Da’wah Mosque in Malaysia: from Vernacular to Modern Structures

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to document the development phases of da’wah mosque architectural style in Malaysia from pre to post-independence era. Throughout Islamic history in many Muslim and non-Muslim countries, mosque not only function as a place to perform prayers but also serves as multifunctional space to conduct various activities involving individual and communal needs like da’wah. Similar scenario also occurs in the context of Malaysia’s mosque development in which the mosque act as a sign to convey message of Islam and as symbol of da’wah. These da’wah mosque architectural style however undergo various changes due to many influencing factors like the role of mosque patron, continuous transformation of designer tastes as well as social, economic and political influence. Nonetheless, the most empowering influence is from the role of patron or client whom has the major tendency to shape the da’wah mosque based on their individual ideology that they hold onto. To analyze the mosque design and its evolution in Malaysia, interpretivism as research paradigm will be adopted. This is vital to establish set of practices in order to sort out the role and function of da’wah mosque throughout the Malaysian history. Hermeneutic on the other hand will be used as methodological approach to extract the meaning of the da’wah mosque as a ‘sign’ as well as to understand the documentation relating to the da’wah mosque as subject of research. The findings then will be analyzed using coding method. This paper, therefore, offers clear knowledge on the da’wah mosque study by widening and strengthening the understanding of Islamic architecture in Malaysia.