Simon Soon
East India Company's Muslim troops comprising the Halvildars, Jemadars and Sepoys founded the mosque on the present site. Later, the Muslim community requested their headman Cauder Mydin Merican alias Kapitan Kling to build a brick mosuqe. In 1801, the government granted an 18 acre lot to the 'Mohamedan Church for ever'. This huge acreage was meant for the mosque and burial grounds, with surplus lands to collect rent for upkeep.
Kapitan Kling became the first Superintendent of the mosque and the appointment of the mosque officers rested with his family. The original building was a single-storey building with minarets at each corner, with an outer colonnade and a low scalloped wall and granite area similar to that found in the Acheen Street Mosque. The mosque is surrounded by shophouses and was accessibkle through narraw gateways. The mosque was only enlarged at the turn of the 20th century into a grand structure with minarets, turrets and domes.
In 1890s, the Municipal Commission acquired a parcel of land from the Kapitan Kling Mosque estate, on which they built, the first Carnavon Street Police Station, then the Vernacular School and finally the municipal market (Campbell Street Market). By 1903, only 8 of the 18 acres granted to Kapitan Kling Mosque reamined as mosque property. In 1905, the mosque came under the administration of the Hindoo and Mohammedan Endowment Board (now the State Religious Council). It continues to own shopehouses at Claimant Place, Chulia St, pitt St, Pitt Lane, Buckingham St, Carnarvon St, and Campbell St.
In 1916, the first major renovations was carried out with funds from the Board. The architect NA Neubronner extended the smoque and added the Moghul domes and turrets, a large minaret for the muezzin and a madrasah for religious classes. The mosque was never rebuilt, only enlarged. The minarets and alcove of the original mosque can still be seen at the back of the present mosque.
NOTES
Khoo Salma Nasution. 2007. Streets of George Town, Penang. Penang: Areca Books, 148-9.
