Lerabain Old Mosque

#culturalheritage #oralhistory #oldmosque #nusatenggaratimur #indonesia

Wakapsir, Alor Barat Daya, Alor, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia

The At-Taqwa Mosque of Lerabain was built by Sultan Kimalas Gogo, a Muslim holy man from Ternate in North Maluku. Upon arrival at Lerabain, he successfully negotiated with the local king, preached Islam to the villagers, and built the mosque. In constructing the new house of worship, he assigned four tribes in the kingdom of Kui in Lerabain to each make one main pillars. They were separated with partitions as they worked so that no one could see the work of others. The result was four main pillars with distinct motifs unique to each tribe. The Raja tribe created the northeast pillar with a Javanese flower motif, the Kaletwas made the southeast one with a different floral motif, the Malangkabat created the southwest pillar with a matabubu motif, and the Kuilelang created the northwest one with a daun bulu motif.

High above the four main pillars, the finial (kamusang) with its four-pronged branches (tewiling) represents the unity of the people. Dried leaves originally covered the roof but were replaced by an iron sheet slavaged from the ruins of the Kui palace in 1984. Since then, regular maintenance and renovation have been conducted; by the religious affairs office in 1984, then by the cultural office in 1998 along with the building of railings, and by the people of the Kui kingdom in 2011. The mosque is used weekly for Friday congregational prayers and for the two annual Eid holidays. The surrounding space is used for the animal sacrifice (qurban) on Eid al-Adha. A pit in front of the mihrab has long been used for this ritual. The knives used for the slaughter were also brought to Lerabain by Kimalas Gogo himself

The interview features, Syahrir Wollang, the mosque's caretaker.

Credits:
Interviewer : Ahmad Kholdun Ibnu Sholah
Executive Producer : Multia Zahara
Videographer/Photographer : Andri Saputra
Drone : Fauzan Azhima N. Alidoray
Interview Summary : Kota Tanyoe, Sekata
Editor : Kota Tanyoe
Music : “Volcanic Winds - Gelombang Timur,” Gugas Fema Maluku Utara. Available on The Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/gugusgema... CreativeCommons Attributions-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0

The full metadata for this oral history interview can be found in the Maritime Asia Heritage Survey database under record (MAHS-IDN-NTT-ALR-ABS-S-001).

The Maritime Asia Heritage Survey is based at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies, under the direction of Professor R. Michael Feener. The MAHS has field survey teams working across multiple countries contributing to the ongoing development of an open-access online archive. Our growing dataset of archaeological sites and historical artifacts from the Maldives, Indonesia, and other countries of the region can be accessed at: https://maritimeasiaheritage.cseas.ky...

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