Seeing the splendor and elegance of the Baiturrahmah Mosque in Padang

Padang (ANTARA) - If in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed's mosque is said to be one of the best and grandest landmark in the world, then in Padang, W. Sumatra Baiturrahmah Mosque is worthy of being one of the most beautiful mosques in the Land of Minang .

Even though it was only established two years ago and was officially used as a place of worship on July 15, 2017, the Baiturrahmah Mosque, located on Jalan Bypass Air Pacah, kilometer 15 Padang, was able to steal the attention of Muslims to worship because of the beauty of the building.

The architecture of the building that is identical to the model of mosque buildings in the Middle East makes this mosque always crowded with residents to worship.

Taking concepts such as the Agung Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the Baiturrahmah Mosque has four towers towering on the four sides of the building.

At the top there is a large white dome flanked by two medium-sized domes, and there are 50 small domes.

Standing on a 2,600 square meter, building design beauty makes this mosque became one of the masterpiece of modern architecture a symbol of pride for Muslims in the city of Padang.

When you will enter the mosque from other side of Padang Bypass road, visitiors will be greeted with a beautiful gate that has the shape of half curved.

At the front there are also two large crescents flanked by stars with the name of Allah and Muhammad surrounded by palm trees making this mosque one of the favorite locations to take pictures.

If during the daytime the mosque looks white, then at night it is identical to the white glowing green which is cool in the eye and beautiful.

If you want to worship there, there is no need to worry because there are two places for ablution which blend with the main building and two other ablutions with 70 taps.

The Baiturahhmah Mosque has three main doors on the west, south and east sides made of wood imported directly from Jepara.

The parking lot is also wide because the location is also beside the campus of the Baiturrahmah Padang University and Siti Rahmah Hospital so there is no need to worry about not getting space.

Try to get inside, the air from the air conditioner immediately feels so that the air is very cool inside.

In the interior of the mosque is also beautiful, bacause on the front there are calligraphy carved on wood on the right and left side of the podium.

A brown wood podium whose elevated position also looks elegant, on the top.

While the walls are filled with pillar-shaped windows with a curved top resembling a dome that is ordered and imported directly from Java.

In the middle there is a large crystal lamp imported directly from Korea. While the mosque carpet is also imported directly from Turkey.

One Juz

In the month of Ramadhan 1440 the Hijri at Baiturrahmah Mosque is different from other mosques, that is the implementation of tarawih prayers held by the recitation of one juz of Al Quran by the imam.

So if 30 nights means it's 30 juz or the same as the Khatam Al Quran, said Chairperson of the Baiturrahmah Mosque, Jemkhairil.

According to him, at the Baiturrahmah Mosque there are two priests graduating from Egyptian universities who memorized Al Qur'an who took turns being the imam of the prayer.

Because the recitation of Al Quran is quite long, on the night of Ramadhan in the mosque it negate religious lectures.

After isya prayer, about 10 minutes, the tarawih prayer of 20 rak'ahs was immediately started with greetings every two rak'ahs and perfected with the witir prayer as many as three rak'ahs.

The implementation of tarawih prayer starts at around 08.15 p.m and finishes around 11.00 p.m.

Although the reading of the verse is long enough it does not dampen the enthusiasm of the congregations to attend the prayer in this mosque.

With a capacity of around 2,200 people on the night of Ramadhan there are at least six shaf with a capacity of one shaf of 98 people for men or approximately 588 people.

That is only for male worshipers, even for the female congregation there are almost the same number so that no less than 1,100 people attend tarawih prayer every night.

"The congregations who come not only from Padang, even from Sungai Limau in Padang Pariaman who deliberately want to pray tarawih here," said Jemkhairil.

Not only that, on the afternoon of Ramadhan, the congregation's congregational prayers were also booming.

If it is outside of Ramadhan only five shaf, in Islamic prayers reach 10 shaf or almost the same as the number of prayers during Friday prayer.

For those who iftar at this mosque, takjil is also provided in the form of dates and drinking water.

While in the last 10 nights of Ramadhan, it was held that in the Ramadhan 1439 the number of participants at the peak of the 27th night of Ramadhan reached 1,800 people.

"All participants will provide free suhur," he said.

The implementation of the scholarship begins after the tarawih prayer by reciting and reciting Al Quran. Then at 1:00 a.m. the lights were turned off and at 3:00 a.m. was held Tahajjud prayer in congregation until before suhur.

The Baiturrahmah Mosque began to be built in 2015 at the suggestion of the child who owns the Baiturrahmah Foundation.

At that time there was a Jabal Rahmah mosque located at the back of the Baiturrahmah University campus with a capacity of only 600 people.

Because every Friday was always booming and not accommodated, it was finally proposed to build the Baiturrahmah mosque which was fully funded by the founding family of Baiturrahmah H Amran Educational Foundation.

Now because of the beauty of its architecture besides being a place of worship, this mosque is also one of the religious tourist destinations to enjoy the beauty and splendor of the building.

Editor: Mutiara Ramadhani

Translated by: Internship Student of ANTARA 2019