This was probably the favorite part of my trip to Kuala Lumpur. Growing up in America, it’s easy to misunderstand different religions and cultures around the world. There are so many different opinions on everything that trying to fully comprehend a different way of life becomes almost too chaotic. It’s one of the best things about traveling though – as long as you remember that you are there to observe, not judge.
With that said, I can admit that I have little to no (real) knowledge of Islam. I was really surprised that Malaysia was a mostly Muslim population and it was a really big eye opening, also pleasantly surprising, experience for me. It’s one of the reasons why I really wanted to visit the National Mosque of Malaysia.
Enjoy the pictures!
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- I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to take pictures of this.
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- We weren’t allowed to go in there, but this is where everyone is during prayer. It was HUGE.. and air conditioned. Haha.
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- Wanita = Female. I forgot that during prayers, women are seated in the back.
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- We were asked to put these on in order to visit the mosque since we are not Muslim.
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- The mosque is pretty huge. I was expecting the National Mosque of Malaysia to look a lot older, but it was really up to date and conventional. It was still beautiful.
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- The view from outside.
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- I don’t know what each clock stands for, but I do know they are meant to show the times of each prayer.
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- We started to roam around a bit outside the mosque before heading to the entrance.
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- More stars being implemented in the design of the mosque.
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- We had to wait 30 minutes because we arrived during a part of their daily prayers. Tourists who are not Muslim are not allowed inside the building until the prayers are over. It was nice to sit outside and listen to what was going on though!
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- You can see how important the symbol of the star is. It’s shown the architecture repeatedly!
Directions: We got to the mosque by riding the subway to Kuala Lumpur station. It’s one stop above KL Sentral station. Once you get there, you can ask anyone where it is and they will direct you. It is a wee bit of a walk to get out of the old railway station. We ended up walking through a parking deck even though it says not to. Haha.
FYI: The mosque is completely free. You just have to wait when they aren’t conducting prayers, but that was actually really cool to listen to if you do wait. You must cover up (unless you are a guy). If you are going to throw a hissy fit, just go away and don’t bother visiting.
TIP: Try to be respectful by not talking too loud. Actually a woman told us that we shouldn’t even be talking in the mosque since we weren’t Muslim. Unfortunately she didn’t know she was talking to three Americans and it’s just impossible for us to go a few seconds without talking. We did try to whisper though.
Overall: I really liked visiting this place! I really recommending take a look and poking around. There are other mosques around the area that have an older and more traditional feel to them as well. It’s in a nice part of the city and you can just walk around to enjoy other sights. I actually loved that they made us cover up. You see so many Muslim women wear their religious garbs that it was really interesting to put it on yourself. I will say, it was hot as a mofo in there and I do not know how those women do it. Faith is powerful I guess.
Hope you decide to go!
**This blog post is part of my 2week trip to Malaysia/Cambodia/Vietnam. Click on the link to see what else I’ve done https://stellaface.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/travels-malaysia-cambodia-and-vietnam/
Stellaface 