Tradition says this wooden mosque has stood for almost four hundred years, and not one nail holds it together.
This is the Wadi al-Hussein Mosque, better known as Talo Mano, in Bacho district, Narathiwat province, in the far south of Thailand. It is also called the 300 Years Mosque.
Tradition dates it to the year 1634, though one scholarly source suggests a later date.
A local legend tells of a young woman who fled a war between Ayutthaya and Pattani, carrying her village's Quran. The story says that when the fighting ended, the villagers built a mosque for it, and that Muslims and Buddhists worked side by side. The legend cannot be checked.
It is built of merbau and belian, two hard tropical timbers, joined with wooden wedges instead of nails.
The mosque is really two buildings joined together, raised on pillars above the ground. The smaller one holds the mihrab. It has three tiers of roof, and a tower in Chinese style. The larger one has a Thai gable.
Carved panels on the walls mix Thai, Chinese and Malay patterns. The roof was first made of palm leaves, and was later covered with clay tiles.
Reportedly, a handwritten Quran is still kept inside. In 2014, Thailand announced a renovation plan worth about 200 million baht.
The mosque dates back to the Pattani Kingdom, when it was ruled by a sultan. The villagers in that area who were both Muslims and Buddhists built the mosque in 1634. They cooperated in the construction of the mosque. Legend states that during the war between the Ayutthaya Kingdom and the Pattani Kingdom, a young woman of a village in the Pattani Kingdom was fleeing from the war. She was the keeper of the village's Quran and fled with it in her hands. Upon fleeing, she fell into a small valley. Rescued by the villagers in that area, she surprised them as she had the Quran tight in her hands. The villagers so then decided to build the Mosque after the war ended. Another legend states that the mosque was built by Wan Husein Az-Sanawi, a teacher who migrated to the Pattani Kingdom, in 1624. The hand-written Quran and the construction plan of the mosque are kept in the mosque itself.
To prepare for the ASEAN community, the 300 year mosque received a 200-million Thai Baht fund from the government to renovate the mosque in early 2014. The plan will be implemented by the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center. Renovations includes renovating the mosque, improving surrounding landscapes, and adding functions to the mosque (community center). With the renovation, the mosque will hopefully attract more tourists.
Architecture and design
The mosque combines several architectural styles from the Chinese, Thais, and the Malays. The mosque was built with wood from the merbau tree and an belian tree. Because nails were not invented at that time, wedges were used instead to hold the wood into place. Original roofing was made of palm tree leaves and it was later changed to terracotta tiles. The mosque consists of two buildings. The smaller building is where the mihrab is located and has three layers of roof. It is also where the Chinese-style minaret is located. The bigger building has more of Thai architectural influence with the Thai-style gable. The walls of both buildings has etchings of Thai/Chinese/Malay designs and patterns.
More to know
Most ceremonies held in the mosque are strictly Islamic ceremonies. Although it also serves as a community centre, it still must be treated as a mosque.
The History, Architecture and later sections are adapted from the Wikipedia article “Talo Mano Mosque”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article. Text has been shortened.
Photos
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