Author Description

"As part of the Muslim's religious and sociocultural heritage, mosques and kramats provide testimony of the contributions of Muslims to the development of Penang as an international port and an important settlement since the 18th century. Behind the keen competition to start life in a new place, Muslims still perpetuate the tradition of building prayer houses (surau) and mosques for religious purposes besides carrying out welfare works through donations and designating their properties as wakaf. Kramat became the focus of people in the new place to ensure their hopes and dreams became reality. Interestingly, while mosques have become the places of worship for Muslims, kramats have become the common space for people of various social backgrounds, religions and cultures to interact with one another. This book consists of 75 entries on mosques and 24 entries on kramats that are found in Penang since the 1730s until 2012. It is hoped that this collection of entries on mosques and kramats will provide a better understanding for the Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Penang as well as in other parts of Malaysia and elsewhere on how the diverse group of people from different religions and cultures were still able to share the same space in religious and sociocultural matters as manifested by the construction of mosques and kramats in the state."--Back cover