We continued our learning journey yesterday and this time we visited Ba'alwei mosque which is located at Lewis Road. It has been ca 4 years since we last visited Imam Habib Hassan at his mosque. As he is such a revered and busy imam, we were delighted that he made time to share with Siglap Harmony Circle (SHC) members on the history and humbling beginnings of the mosque built by his late father and how he took over the leadership of the mosque for the past ca. 48 years. Things were so much different then and they have faced and overcome many challenges to be where they are now. The mosque has been able to innovate and continue to grow and many local and foreign dignitaries continuously come to visit and seek his wisdom.
Habib Hassan gave us a personal tour of his mosque and explained to us the different exhibits on display. His mosque may look humble but it contains a treasure trove akin to "Aladdin's cave". Inside the mosque, they have a notable collection of Qurans and Bibles from all over the world. For instance, one of the Quran on exhibit dates back to 600 years old. He has an Old and New Testament Holy bible dating back 400 years old. Our members were thrilled to be able to touch and flip through the pages of such holy biblical treasure in their safe keeping.
We were treated to delicious nasi lemak and other delicacies after the tour. Habib Hassan is an important member of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) whose main aim is to inculcate and foster greater understanding and racial harmony amongst our multi-racial and multi-religious society. He gifted us a copy of the compilation of the 10 recognised religions in Singapore. We passed it to our MCCY representative for their review and if found suitable, it can be part of the basic toolkit to be used to teach new members of the refreshed Harmony Circle on the basic tenets of the 10 recognised religions in our country.
We are indeed privileged and honoured to be able to visit Ba'alwei mosque and to learn from such a renowned imam. We thank him for sharing and imparting his valuable wisdom and experience to us. May he continue to live long and prosper.