Habib Noh, Hi-Tech City’s Respected Wali

Habib Noh, Hi-Tech City’s Respected Wali





Back in Malabar mosque for Asar prayer, Rafeeq had another plan for me in the evening. A Malay brother, who does business in interior designing, was ready to carry us first to have a tea at Basra Street and then a run through the Beach road to the famous Maqam or Keramat of Habib Noh bin Muhammad Al-Habshi (1788 - 27/7/1866), the mausoleum of a widely revered wali lived in the early 19th century located at the hill between Palmer Road and East Coast Parkway. The MUIS now owns both the Maqam and the adjoining mosque.

Throughout my stay in Singapore I heard a lot of stories about this great personality and it was obvious he is one respected by all and remembered by all. Even a Chinese taxi driver gets hundred tongues when asked about or knows that we are going to the tomb of Habib Nuh. Two miraculous stories of recent past is attributed to him and are well alive in the memory of all, in addition to a number of stories written and orally transmitted. It was a non-Muslim taxi driver who pointed out that the Makam of Habeeb Nuh was well-protected by the one in heavens when the entire Singapore was extensively aerial bombed by the Japanese in 40s.

Most of the Singaporeans I met are well aware of a recent story regarding the government’s failure to demolish the makam to build an elevated highway along Tanjung Pagar. They say that not even a single crane or excavator could move to unearth the area and the contractors were forced to curve the bridge around the Makam, with a height almost on the same level as Habib Noh's Mausoleum. And, standing there, you will understand how the busiest highway has been diverted and curved from a straight line.

A board in English inside the adjacent mosque has noted the story of Habib Nuh as follows, and before narrating all of them the way it is written there I take excuses from all those skeptics and rationalist who totally reject all such miraculous things happening from human beings.



Close to the grave of Habib Nuh along with Abdullah Haji and the Maqam caretaker


Though not much was known about his early life, Habib Noh came from Kedah from a family of 4 brothers - Habib Noh, Habib Ariffin and Habib Zain (both died in Penang) and the youngest Habib Salikin, who died in Daik, Indonesia. He arrived in Singapore shortly after Sir Stamford Raffles set up trade post there. Based in Singapore, he kept travelling to Johor Baru and other peninsular states of Malaysia, in service of Islam.

Known for his constant night prayers and frequent visits to graveyards, Habeeb Nuh was well loved by people from all walks of life, especially children. He would often buy sweats and give money to children, the poor and destitute.

As usual in stories about noted Walis, he reportedly possessed the ability to literally disappear, and be seen at faraway places. It was reported that he was ever seen praying in the Grand Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia without actually making the journey there himself physically. Once he even told a departing haj pilgrim that they will meet in Mecca. When the person arrived there, it was Habib Noh himself who greeted him.

Habib Noh was also well known as a great healer, especially for children whom he loved very much. There was once when he healed a child with an injured leg, by simply putting his hands over the wound and reciting some prayers. Within moments, the child was able to run again as though nothing had happened to him.

‘Habib Noh would brave even the thunderstorm to tend to any sick child. He once walked to Paya Lebar from his home at Telok Blangah under heavy rain to heal a child’.
‘In another incident, Habib Noh was awakened by the continuous crying of his neighbour’s child. When he went over, he found that the family was too poor to buy food for the hungry child. With tears in his eyes upon hearing the story, Habib Noh took a coconut kernel, poured some water in it and recited some prayers. By God’s will, the water turned into milk for the child’.

‘Habib Noh is also known for his powerful and accurate premonitions. He seemed to know if people were in need, sick or have intentions meant for him. Once there was an Indian Muslim man who traveled back to India to visit his family via sea. He made a sacred pact with God that if he were to return to Singapore safely, he would present Habib Noh with a gift. Upon returning, he was shocked when Habib Noh was already waiting for him at the shore. Habib Noh called out to him, “I believe you have made a promise to give something to me.” Surprised, the Indian Muslim man said, “Speak oh wise one what you wish for and I will gladly present it to you.” Habib Noh replied, “I would like to have rolls of yellow cloth to donate to the poor, the destitute and children.” Hugging Habib Noh, the Indian Muslim man cried, “By God, I will be most willing to present it to a man who is exalted in the eyes of God for his kindness towards mankind. Please give me three days to present them to you.”
After 78 years of life devoted to Islam, Habib Noh passed away peacefully on Friday, 27 July 1866 corresponding to 14 Rabiul Awal 1283. A few days before he died, he gave many advises to his beloved friends. Amongst his treasured words were, “Don’t be greedy for worldly materials nor have any ill-feelings towards anyone throughout your life.”
Habib Noh breathed his last breath in Telok Blangah, at the residence of Johor’s Temenggong Abu Bakar. When news spread, many people from all walks of life, including Englishmen who converted to Islam through Habib Noh, and those from the neighbouring islands came to pay their last respect. All horse-drawn carriages in Singapore came to a halt from their daily activities, to ferry the old folks, women and children to the funeral for free.

His death anniversary ceremony (or haul) is often held on the last day of the month Rabiul Akhir. It starts about 'Asr with various invited 'ulamas or religious scholars from within Singapore and overseas giving lectures. Maulid and tahlil are read after Maghrib. Generous food is then served to the hundreds of guests regardless of race or religion, after Isya' prayers.

My travelogue Singapore Part 6: New Concept Hi-Tech Mosque

First Experience In MRT
After little rest, I set out with Imam Rafeeq to meet one of his Malayali friends who is also an Imam in a far away mosque. The journey gave me my first experience with the ultra efficient Mass Rapid Transit or MRT rail system, a backbone of Singapore’s public transport system spanning its entire area. Constructed by the Land Transport Authority and run by profit-based corporations SMRT Corporation and SBS Transit, the MRT is the best and easy option to reach most of the places in the city state, with a 3-8 minutes frequency and 5:30am-1am services. The MRT is connected with another Light Rail Transit (LRT) networks as part of the government’s concept of having rail lines that bring people almost directly to their homes.

Most underground stations are deep and hardened enough to withstand conventional aerial bomb attacks and to serve as bomb shelters. The entire system works in a highly sophisticated manner, a clear implementation of all available technologies for the public transport system. Everything is automatic there. You have General Ticketing Machines at every stations and access control gates connected to a computer network, which is capable of reading and updating electronic tickets, storing the entire data including each passenger’s initial and destination stations and the duration for each trip. You can buy an EZ-Link card and recharge it at various outlets when needed, and this can be used for paying for a variety of services. I was using such a card purchased by Rafeeq and Shafeeq to pay for everything from bus-train traveling to taking a photocopy at the self-service xerox machines in the university I visited.

Great Efforts To Keep Singapore Green
What struck me the most when the MRT come out of the underground lines and ran through elevated ones is again the lush, greenish, and flowery surroundings spanning everywhere in Singapore. Coming from Kerala, where the entire greenery is being looted for the benefit of some vested interests, where we are robed of all small and big hills and mountains at our countryside by unbridled new Shylocks supported fully by quotation gangs as well as ‘revolutionaries’, I could only sit amazed seeing great efforts by the Singapore government to transform it to a true garden city.

Before going there, I had a feeling that the life in this city will be hectic and congested. But now I realize this is one of the most beautiful and clean modern metropolises in Asia. Imagine that this same island has more than 36 sq miles of parks, open spaces, nature reserves, roadside greenery, and vacant lands. As part of its advanced planning, it has reserved an additional 16 sq miles for park land when the population reaches 5.5 million people. Thanks to systematic activities of Singapore National Parks Board (NParks), trees are everywhere in this city, and it employs a sophisticated geographic information system (GIS) technology to manage data about and inspect all 1.3 million of trees around.

Masjid Tentera Diraja, in Clementi Woodspark, close to National University of Singapore main campus

The NParks conserve, create, sustain and enhance the green infrastructure of the Garden City. Its motto is to provide with an environment that is ‘visually stimulating, physically nourishing and emotionally uplifting’. Other than softening the harshness of the life in a concrete jungle, the NParks also aims at wooing investors through trees and gardens showing potential investors, especially in the initial years that Singapore was an efficient and effective place. Singaporeans give the credit of the luxuriant greenery they enjoys today to its modern father Lee Kuan Yew who showed a strong political will for about 40 years. He passed laws that demanded spaces left for gardens and trees in any new projects, like roads, flats, industries. The newly implemented plans of NParks include creation of a three-dimensional garden for urban environment incorporating landscaped rooftop gardens and other forms of skyrise greenery like planting on parts of the building such as Podium gardens, Facade greenery and Balcony planting.

Asyafa’a; A new Concept Mosque

Shafa'a: A view from the front

We walked around 1 km after getting down at the Sembawang MRT to reach the state-of-art modern mosque of Singapore – named Assyafaah. With a sight of the structure from outside, anybody, who is habituated with the typical and stereotyped structures of mosque in mind, would not agree that it is a mosque. But as you learn about this and its activities, including other mosques in Singapore, you understand that Muslims in Singapore, with the help or pressure from the government (it is a debated issue), is working towards creating a community rooted in its mores but exactly suitable for this rapid moving, tech-savvy as well as profit and progress oriented metropolis. Here, you fail looking for domes, the arch, and the minaret - the typical design element from Mughal, Ottoman, Mamluk or Safavid cultures – and I learn that all these were avoided as the new architects made them think that all these have little relevance to the cultural context of Muslims and Malays in Singapore.

Shafa'a mosque: a rear view

Ustad Sharfuddeen from Palakkad district of Kerala is one of the many imams employed by government-controlled Muslim umbrella body called Majlis Ugama Singapua or Islamic Association (MUIS) of Singapore. Ustad Sharafuddeen embraces us and leads to his private room in the mosque. A true Malabari Musliyar (a term Mapilas of Malabar use to call their ulama), Ustad is a man with vast experiences of life having lived in many countries including Malaysia and Madagascar as his interest varies from religious teaching to furniture and horticulture businesses. In Singapore, he served around 10 years, first as an Imam in a small Kampong mosque that was demolished along with 3 other mosques as part of government plans to relocate settlements. Instead of the demolished mosques MUIS constructed Assafa’a at the end of a neighborhood of high-rise residential buildings. I understood there were very limited reactions from Muslims when mosques were demolished, thanks to the efficient and imposing plans of the government employed to cleverly administer its religions through MUIS-like bodies.

One of the office inside Shafa'a mosque complex

Ustad Sharfuddeen takes us around the state-of-the art four-storied multi-purpose mosque, saying it is the first hi-tech mosque built by using the Mosque Building Fund of the MUIS in Singapore. Designed by Singaporean Tan Kok Hiang and Forum Architects, Sssyafa’a's dome-less structure is a deliberate attempt to project a modern face to Islam by ‘creatively re-interpreting the traditional form of the arabesque’. Outside the mosque, there is a ten-story minaret built from ‘rusted steel plates coated with colorless polyurethane’, and you cannot ever compare it with the minarets the mosques in mind.

Ustad Sharafuddin and Imam Rafeeq

We roamed around with the Ustad to see the facilities in the mosque that can accommodate around 5,000 people during the Friday prayers, the only time all the spaces of the mosque utilized for a single purpose, by opening all the doors towards the mihrab and pulpit. The mosque works as a true community centre with Muslim families coming there for everything. It has adopted many family-friendly, Youth-friendly and community-friendly programmes implementing the ‘mosque-is-a-community-centre’ concept. The mosque has 13 hi-tech class rooms for religious learning, successfully utilized to impart Islamic education to children, teenager and adults as well. Around 1200 students learn there and most of the 30 teachers are ladies. It runs a kindergarten also. The entire mosque is connected through32 cameras and CCTVs. There is a multi-purpose hi-tech auditorium, refreshment rooms with all facilities to have tea and snacks, special offices to manage various activities under the mosque and a library.

Imam Muslim multi-purpose community hall inside the mosque complex

Active participation of women in religious teaching and learning, in addition to all other activities of the mosque is one of the main characteristics of the entire mosques in Singapore. Taking time out of their office hours, women drive in to the mosque and offer their prayers in the mosque. Posing a question keeping Kerala and other places in mind, Ustad tells me that it has never become a bone of contention in Singapore as most of the women, Muslim or non-Muslim, are working outside home, so it is out of convenience to come to the mosque and have their prayers. Other than the main open prayer hall meant for men, there is a special I’tikaf area (mawqoof as mosque), especially to facilitate for women, and help menstrous women use all other parts of the building during their periods, a time they are exempted from ritual prayers.

Another view of Shafa'a mosque

Back in his room it was another delicious food with a number of varieties from fish, meat and vegetables. It is amazing to here that a Tamil Muslim women, who runs an average food outlet a kilometer away, walks in everyday with rich and delicious food she prepares, for last eight years, only to get rewards hereafter by feeding the imam of the mosque in time twice a day.

Some Facts On Singaporean Mosques
There are around 68 mosques in Singapore today, all of which are working as a multi-functional institution providing a host of social services, aimed at creation of an excellent Muslim Community. The MUIS-appointed Mosque Management Board (MMB) manages the entire mosques for a 2-year term. Other than officiating the ritual prayers and conducting madrasa classes, mainly aimed at children, mosques in Singapore organizes systematic and structured Family Development courses, Health Talks, Counseling Service and Motivation courses for all strata of the society, youth clubs, Excursions cum Social work, Sports and the co-operation with non-Muslim Youth organizations

In order to meet the needs of relocated Muslim communities, the government supported the Mosque Building Programme of MUIS in 1970s and thus the Syafa’a like new satellite mosques were found near the newly developed residential areas. Old Muslim leaders I met remembered the struggle they first had to get sanctions for new mosques. However, they succeeded in bringing the issue to the notice of then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, whose intervention facilitated amendments in Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) in 1975 and setting up of the Mosque Building Fund, to which all working Muslims are asked to donate a monthly minimum of S$ 2-5. The amount will be deducted from their salary through a government agency and the government also provides land for the new mosques at nominal prices.

The neat and cleanliness at each and every mosque, especially in the zones for taking ablution and latrines, is some thing needed mention. The government has adopted different types of excellence awards to appreciate mosques and acknowledge their care for the building and surroundings.

The curriculum and syllabi of the madrasas are well-managed by MUIS, which launched in 2004 a new Mosque Madrasah curriculum called the aL I V E (Living Islamic Values Everyday), notable for a synthesis of the same old content with new approaches, language and assessment mode. The aLIVE is divided into four stages – kids (5-8 year olds), tweens (9-12), teens (13-16) and youth (17-25). There are 35 mosque madrasahs in Singapore and the teachers undergo through special training programme devised by MUIS.

My Travelogue -Singapore - Part 5

Don’t Mistake This Tea Carrier for Anything Else
In the Malabar mosque my friends were waiting for me with the tea to discuss the day’s plan. It was interesting to see that the tea meant for me was kept suspended on the wall in a plastic bag, of course, but sorry to say, you will mistake it for a urine bag in hospital, and while seeing it for the first time suspended on the mosque wall, I wondered why this people have attached it in the mosque. Later I noticed that carrying tea or coffee, both hot and cold, in plastic bags and drinking it using straws is a common thing in Southeast.

A Walk through Singapore Muslims’ History
We set out for a morning walk through the Kampong Glam Muslim quarters. Starting from the busy Victoria Street and Jalan Kubur, we passed through Bugis to cross over and reach the story-telling streets named after Muslim cities - Arab Street, Basra Street, Baghdad Street, Muscat Street and Kandahar Street - ending at the imposing Sultan mosque and the Jalan Sultan where my first morning walk, which was exactly a journey to the Muslim past of the Singapore, ended with a delicious cuisine at a Malabari’s hotel.

Along with Imam Shafeeq Hudawi


Jalan Kubur is a small road with a grand and spacious cemetery of mainly Sultans and their relatives at one side and a public Muslim cemetery that is no longer in use on the other. Kampong means Village or settlement in Malay, while Glam is in reference to the Gelam tree, a variety of eucalyptus that was abundant in the area and the bark of which was used by Bugis sailors and boat builders in the Kampong to seal gaps in their bots, while its leaves have the medicinal value. The Malay aristocracy lived in the area before the British East India Company signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor and Temenggong Abdul Rahman to set up a trading post in 1819. In 1822, when Raffles drew the city’s sketch, he divided the settlement among different ethnic groups like European Town, Chinese, Chulia, Arab and Bugis kampongs. He designated Kampong Glam for the Sultan and his household, in addition to the Malay and Arab communities.

Basra street leading to Sultan mosque


As a result of government’s policy interventions aimed at abolishing village settlements and eliminating ethnic congregation in certain areas, the Kampong Glam is now left with historical symbols as well as heritage shopping and eating, to tell the tale of its past. However, the government is extra conscious to preserve the buildings and streets in its true colours. Since the 1980s, several large portions of the area have been declared National Heritage sites and have been protected for conservation. In 1989, the Urban Redevelopment Authority gazetted Kampong Glam, including the Sultan Mosque, the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque and the Istana Kampong Glam, the palace of the former Sultan, as a conservation area. Moreover, the area is still a key landmark and gathering point for Singapore Muslims and it is for them, especially the Malays, what Chinatown for Chinese and Little India for Indians. The palace of Sulatan (Istana Kampong Glam ) is a heritage museum, the Malay heritage Centre, now showcasing the rich history and culture of Singapore’s Malay community.



Arab street










Sultan Mosque
Imam Shafeeq and Imam Rafeeq took me to the historic Sultan mosque, a key building and tourist attraction at the end of Bussorah Street. Largest mosque in Singapore with a 5,000 capacity for congregational prayers, the golden domed mosque has many laurels in its credit. It is the only mosque that can use a megaphone outside the mosque for the ceremonial call to the prayers and other programs. Other mosques too use the megaphone, but the sounds should be limited to the compound.

The mosque was materialized when Sultan Hussein, while signing the treaty with Raffles, negotiated to build a mosque near his palace, and the later even contributed $3000 Spanish dollars to its construction. Early in the last century the initial building underwent a reconstruction, thanks to the new design of British planner Dennis Santry who shaped the mosque in the Islamic Saracenic style with domes, minarets and balustrades. According to the information provided by tourist guides at the mosque, designs from Taj Mahal, style from Persian, Moorish, Turkish and a classical theme have been incorporated in the new structure that was completed in 1928.
Along with Imam Rafeeq Hudawi in front of Sultan Mosque

I returned to a kind of spiritual and traditional fragrance of these streets many times alone during my stay in Singapore in order to get socked in the feeling of being there a hundred or some years ago bargaining with the traders and merchants from all over the world, exchanging great cultures. What an enchanting mood was it while walking through the beautifully restored outlets selling traditional clothes and Malays medicines, artefacts, handicraft, furniture, jewelry, restaurants in addition to an extremely fitting bookshop that sells mostly sufi-oriented classic books and CDs. Muslims generally buy their headgear (or songkok), the holy Quran, prayer mats and manuals from here.

Murtabak At Zamzam
Now both the imams take me into Zamzam restaurant, one of the major destinations for tasty Halal foods, along with Victory and others. Started in the early 20th century, Zamzam is owned by a Malayali family from Kannur district of North Keala, and most of its workers are also from Kerala. As I entered the restaurant accompanying the Imams of the mosque, to whom the hotel sends packed foods many times a month, I got a privileged treatment. Makan ah? . (makan is food and the suffices like ah, lah and leh is a part of Singlish which is a mix of Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and all) They decided to let me have the taste of the special Murtabak, a must-try item in Southeast Asia, of course with all its regional varieties.

The delicious murtbak placed aesthetically

I wonder hearing the claims that Murtabak is a Malabari cuisine. For Malayalis it is easy to understand that the initial ingredient is the big ball of our Poratta, that egg-sized lump which becomes a large and smooth sheet in about the spade of a minute in the hands of an expert poratta maker. Now without cutting it, unlike what we do to make our poratta, the smooth sheet is stuffed with ground or minced mutton or chicken, chopped coriander leaves, sliced onions and beaten egg along with some other ingredients. The draped stuff will be then put in an oven to serve hot after a short time alone or along with a sauce and gravy.

tourists at Sultan mosque

In Indonesia I was served with multiple varieties of Murtaba bearing different tastes, and they have special murtaba belonging to various regions and islands, like murtaba Bandung, and they have the sweat variation of Murtaba as well. ‘Food historians’ debate the Malayali origin of Murtaba, and a googling traces its ancestry into Arabia, especially the Higaz region of Saudi Arabia. Friends there should verify this. It says Murtabak is Mutabbaq in Arabic (مطبق‎) or mutabbag meaning ‘folded’. There is also an opinion that Martabak originated in India, during the Delhi Sultanate and traders took it with them to Southeast Asia. However, to those who still value the oral history, many of my hosts wondered, whenever they served me with Murtabak, saying that how come I don’t know a food with Malabari origin.
Now I could put a full stop thinking that as neo Malayalis carried away the bugs while migrating, the old migrants carried Murtaba away and left no trace of it back in Kerala. Moreover, I got a point for my research, a historic common Arabian or Persian origin for our porotta and their Murtaba.
Inside Sultan Mosque