Mosque (1st Generation) [c.1842-????]

Submitted by Herostratus on Fri, 08/19/2016 - 22:30
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)

Friend of China mentions a place of worship for Muslims above the Gaol in 1842. A mosque appears at this location on the map of 1845

Later place(s) at this location
Jamia Mosque (2nd Generation) [????- ]

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Photos that show this Place

Panorama from above Conduit Road
1879

Comments

The Monammedan community we have already shown ( see 28-7~33 ) built a mosque, on the site of the present one at Shelley Street, about the year 1855, it being rebuilt in 1915  I find an interesting reference to one of the founders, of the local Mosque in an old file, which is worthy of recording in this column. The Hongkong Times of July 3, 1873, states:-

 

Mr Shaik Moosdeen, the oldest Mohammedan resident in this Colony, died at his residence and the remains were interred yesterday in the new cemetery ( this must refer to the Mohammedan cemetery at Happy Valley ) Mr. Moosdeen came to Macao in 1822 as Ghaut-Serang, and following the cession of Hongkong, in 1842 he was established in this Colony in that capacity. The Mosque here was erected under his supervision and when it was completed he was appointed one of the trustees. He has left a widow and two sons, one of whom is in the Government service. Deceased,who was a native of Tanor ( Madraw ) was highly respected by his countrymen. He died in his seventy-third year

 

It is understood that several members of the family are resident in the Colony today

 

 

Source: Old Hong Kong by Colonial Vol 1

The site of worship must have been a temporary structure or suitable open level ground in 1842 (or earlier) (Pre-First Generation??) but the first permanenet structure functioning as a mosque appeared to have been built in 1843.

 

“The Mohammedans built (in 1843) a Mosque on the hill thenceforth called Mosque Gardens (Moloshan).”

 

(Source: Page 190, Chapter XIII, Europe in China: the history of Hongkong from the beginning to the year 1882 Ernest John Eitel (1838-1908), published 1895)

 

https://archive.org/details/europeinchinahis00eiteuoft/page/190

 

The author was the German missionary Ernst Johann Eitel (13th February 1838-10th November 1908) who resided in Hong Kong in the late 19th century for some 26 years.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Johann_Eitel

 

Readers here who understand Cantonese will recognise the translation is in fact incorrect. In Cantonese ‘Molo shan’ literally means ‘Moro Mountain’ (the 'mountain of the Moros' and not ‘Mosque Gardens’)...in this case referencing the hill. The term Moros being similar to the Anglicised term ‘Moors’ (from Latin ‘Mauri’) which the Spanish termed the Muslim inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula and the similar later term ‘Moro’ being applied by the Spanish colonisers to the Muslims living in the Philippines. I suspect the site of the 1st generation mosque in 1843 was the same site of the later present Jamia mosque in Shelley Street, Hong Kong. The land the mosque was built on was leased by Crown Lease to the Muslim community on 23rd September 1850.

 

“It may not be known to many of us of the present generation that it was more than 86 years ago that the ground upon which this Mosque is built, was leased to the Mohammedan Community. To be more precise, I would mention that the Crown Lease was dated 23rd September 1850, the first Trustees being the late Shaik Moosdeen, Mohammed Arab, Shaik Carthar and Hassan Malay.”

 

The above quote was part of the speech given by Mr. Usuff Rumjahn (2nd February 1865-27th February 1947) as Chairman of the Board of Trustees on 2nd October 1936 on the laying of a foundation stone for an orphanage in the Shelley Street Mosque (source: Hong Kong Daily Press, Page 16, 3rd October 1936. This was also reported on the same day edition of the South China Morning Post)

https://mmis.hkpl.gov.hk/coverpage/-/coverpage/view?p_r_p_-1078056564_c…

 

 

 

A famous photograph of the Hong Kong Praya by the photographer John Thomson. The book was published in 1874 and he was in Hong Kong from 1868 so I am thinking the date is c.1868 (as he ventured into China and later visited Fukien 1870 and Formosa 1871 and back to England 1872). 

https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/john_thomson_china_03/ctgallery1/pa…

Is the square building half way up the left hand side of the photograph with the pointed roof and 4 minaret like structures in the roof corners possibly be the First Generation Mosque? The text of the same book said the photo was taken from the front of the parade ground. 

Book with text and photo: https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/john_thomson_china_03/ct_alb_01.html

 

No. 24 from this German illustration of the panorama of Hong Kong in 1859 labelled it as a mosque (try zoom function) - same square building. But the catch is there is a village behind it. But then again it might not be obvous from the angle of John Thomson's photo if it is there.

https://gwulo.com/atom/21969

What do people think comparing the pinned location on the modern map above at the beginning of the thread?

 

You're right David.

This also hinges on my ability to identfy the Victoria Gaol in John Thomson's photo (the three storey building just very slightly to the left of the centre of the photo). In all of the older maps of HK in the 1860s, the mosque is marked as situated further up and behind the Victoria Goal to its SW.