Chinatown Stories | Updated as of June 2019

Indian Muslims in Chinatown Though Chinatown has always been predominantly populated by the Chinese, there exists a community of Tamil Muslim settlers who have made their cultural and religious mark in the area.

Although Chinatown’s business and residential population comprised mostly Chinese, a small but significant community of Indian Muslims also worked and settled in the precinct.

At the time of the founding of in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles, this group was known to the first European merchants and officials as the Chulias. They were mainly Tamil Muslims from ’s southern Coromandel Coast, and most of them worked as moneylenders or traders. Many migrated to Singapore from the 1820s onwards.

During the administration of William Farquhar (and following Raffles’ 1822 Town Plan), a Chulia kampung (“village” in Malay) was marked out. This site was probably where present-day Cross Street in Chinatown stands. Over time, a significant community of these Indian Muslims also worked and settled around Telok Ayer Street, which was also an important business and residential area for the Chinese – in particular, the Hokkiens from Fujian.

The Indian Muslims adapted well. They had their own in South Bridge Road, which is now (Chulia) or Jamae Mosque. It was designated a national monument in 1974. Designed by Irish architect George Coleman in an eclectic blend of Indian and European form, the mosque was built between 1830 and 1835. The front gate is flanked by two octagonal , while Tuscan columns line the interior.

During colonial times, the mosque functioned as more than just a religious site – it was also used as a central postal collection point for the local Muslim community. Those who lacked proper addresses would simply give the mosque’s location for their mail, and would collect it from there once any mail arrived.

Until the 1950s, the mosque also bore the name Paalkaara Kadai Palli, which means “Milkman’s Shop Mosque” in Tamil. There are several possible reasons for this, one being that many Tamil people used to milk their cows in the street adjacent to the mosque compound.

Interestingly, while the public knows the mosque as Masjid Chulia or Jamae Mosque, its congregants call it Periya Palli (Tamil for “big mosque”) or Chulia Palli (Tamil for “Chulia mosque”), a testament to Tamil being widely spoken within the mosque.

Retiree Mohamed Farouk Ahmad Sha, who was interviewed by local daily The Straits Times in 2017, has worshipped at Jamae Mosque since he was born 58 years ago in Tanjong Pagar. Though he moved away in 1965, he still goes there to pray each week. Sharing that he loves that he could speak Tamil at the mosque, the said: “Even in my wheelchair, I come here. I cannot forget this place... I love this mosque very much.”

MONUMENTS IN HARMONY Between 1828 and 1830, the Chulias also built a shrine – called – as a memorial to a holy man, Shahul Hamid of Nagore in India. He was credited with spreading in India. Many immigrants would worship at the shrine to thank him for blessing them with a safe journey to Singapore.

Page 1 of 3 Chinatown Stories | Updated as of June 2019

Built on a piece of land at the corner of Telok Ayer Street and Boon Tat Street, Nagore Dargah is a replica of the original shrine in . Nagore Dargah was gazetted as a national monument in 1974, and is now under the care of Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS or the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore). It now also functions as the Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim Heritage Centre, where visitors can learn about the history of the Indian-Muslim diaspora here.

It is said that the Nagore Dargah was built by two brothers, Mohammed and Haja Mohideen, who shipped in limestone and other building materials. Similar to Jamae Mosque, its architectural features are a unique blend of East and West. Fluted Corinthian pillars front the entrance, which features a classical street-level facade with an elaborate Islamic balustrade pierced with mihrabs – semi-circular niches found in the walls of a mosque. At the corners of the building are 14-level square minarets topped with onion and spires. The side facing Boon Tat Street features large French windows topped with glass fanlights. Externally, the eaves of the building are supported by a European-influenced system of cast-iron brackets.

Reflecting the religious and cultural mix of early Singapore, Nagore Dargah is located in the same street as the Thian Hock Keng Temple, Singapore’s oldest Hokkien temple, and the Al Abrar Mosque, both also national monuments. The latter is also a similar Indian Muslim building.

Like the shrine, the Al Abrar Mosque has also stood the test of time. It began as a small thatched hut, and was nicknamed Kuchu Palli (Tamil for “hut mosque”). “It was where the Chulia or South Indian immigrants gathered to pray,” Mohamed Sulaiman Mohamed Arif, the mosque’s secretary, shared in an article published in 2016 in The Straits Times. From there, it was renovated over five years from 1850 and became a brick mosque. It then underwent a series of major renovations and upgrades over a century later and, today, the mosque takes up the space of three shophouses.

In the same article, former postman Hasan Kutus also shared his experiences praying at the mosque. Pointing at some steps at the entrance of the mosque, the then 69-year-old said: “This was where the thinnai (raised platforms) used to be. Food was served, and people would sit and talk. After the HDB blocks were built and the community scattered, the place became more quiet at night.”

He remembered performing his ablution (ritual cleansing before prayers) at a large pond next to the prayer hall. “During the 70s, there was no room to cleanse and wash, so people would take their wudhu [ablutions] at the pond before praying.”

To this day, the peaceful co-existence of Indian Muslims and Chinese in Chinatown remains a powerful symbol of the wider multi-cultural and multi-racial character of Singapore.

References:

 www.straitstimes.com/singapore/mosque-for-the-tamil-milkman

 eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_520_2004-12-16.html

 eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_536_2004-12-27.html?s=nagore%20dargah

Page 2 of 3 Chinatown Stories | Updated as of June 2019

 mothership.sg/2018/04/jackson-plan-singapore/

 www.straitstimes.com/singapore/a-spiritual-refuge-on-a-bustling-street

 roots.sg/learn/stories/telok-ayer/story

 eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_656_2004-12-31.html

 www.straitstimes.com/singapore/5-things-to-know-about-the-nagore-dargah-indian- muslim-heritage-centre

 www.masjidjamaechulia.sg/welcome/gallery

 eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_519_2004-12-24.html

Page 3 of 3