Good Evening and Happy Suhoor everyone!
Tonight we bring to you our ninth mosque, all the way from the beautiful island of Sri Lanka- The KetchiMalai Mosque from Beruwala, in Western Sri Lanka.
Beruwala Kechimalai Mosque, Sri Lanka
The mosque is best viewed from Galle Road, a road in the town where it’s built.
Beruwala is a town in Kalutara District, Sri Lanka.
The name Beruwala is derived from the Sinhalese word for the place where the sail is lowered.
It marks the spot for the first Muslim settlement on the island, established by Arab traders around the 8th century AD.
A large population of Sri Lankan Moors, many of them jewelry traders, still live in the town—particularly in the area called “China Fort”.
The mosque is known by the town’s residents as Masjid-ul-Abrar, the Mosque of the Righteous, and in Sinhalese as Kechimalai.
The mosque was first built by Arab traders on a rocky peninsula overlooking the town.
Today, the mosque stands as a landmark of the town of Beruwala and as Sri Lanka’s oldest mosque.
It is of colonial moorish architecture, as it stands tall and white upon a rock, surrounded by swaying coconut palms.
Close up view of the architecture
Viewed from the Galle Road, The road in Beruwala where the mosque can be seen best from, it almost looks picturesque.
The history of “Ketchimalai” mosque, goes back generations, and with its myths and legends lay hidden many tales.
What brings them all together is the civilization of centuries that was created around this town and the mosque.
It goes to show that a mosque no matter where is a symbol of peace and togetherness, and helps bring people together. We must always remember that and not be plagued by what the mainstream media portrays about Islam. One person does not make a religion.
The recent events of Orlando deeply saddened me as an American Muslim, therefore today’s mosque location is Sri Lanka- where they fought their differences but today live in religious harmony. In a developed country, we should be able to do that without hate against certain groups. Someday.
Image Source: http://www.beautifulmosque.com/Kechimalai-Mosque-in-Beruwala-Sri-Lanka
Information source:
(Translated from Wikipedia Arabic)
Beruwala, Sri Lanka
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