Sout Ilaahi: "The Season Of Love"

Available at Wardah Books at 58 Bussorah St (Near Masjid Sultan) and Manzil Mustafa Golden Landmark #02-29, 390 Victoria Street

The First Mosque in Trengganu, Sultan Zainal Abidin Mosque

Alhamdulilah, we have the time to visit Sultan Zainal Abidin Mosque in Trengganu. It was the first mosque in Trengganu name after the pious Sultan. Its completely whitish with sacred architecturedesign. This is also the reason why its also known as "White Mosque". It was built between 1793 and 1808. From a distance, I thought I could feel the vibes of the Mosque. What came to my mind was "Hadramawt",sort of same architecture design. When I reached at the mosque which is situated in the heart of the city, I feel the sacred feeling of the mosque especially the unique architecture design. It somehow remind me of the National Mosque in Aceh, Baitur Rahman Mosque. Same profound architecture design which had the soothing feeling. Somehow the design attracted my heart. I rather found it more of Turkish mixed with some element of Middle east architecture design. Anyway, I was being informed Islam reached the shore of Trengganu from Iraq. Well, thats another side of history which I will write later on.

Ziyarah Tok Ku Paloh (Trengganu)

When I started this blog, I did wrote about Tok Ku Paloh if you can find my earlier post. I have always been a strong admirer of him so I did told myself one day I am going to visit his Maqam when I travel to Trengganu. Alhamdulilah Allah grant what I wish that is to visit him when my wife decide to travel to Trengganu during the holidays. We plan to visit Tok ku Paloh maqam. The Shattariyah Brothers helped to drive us to the maqam . It was in a remote kampung area filled with the atmosphere of tranquility, far away from loud buzzing city noise pollution. We also managed to pray in the zawiyah of Tok Ku paloh, a place where he used to pray and conducted his zikir and teaching with his murids. An old Kampong house filled with blessing. It look jaded and old from a distance but when you are inside, you can feel the strength of the place.

One of the Tok ku paloh great grandson whom guide us to the maqam allowed us to take the photo of the maqam. mashaAllah. It was stated by one of our friends, usually they wont allow anyone to take photo of the maqam but alhamdulilah we were allow to do so. We are indeed grateful to Allah swt that we are able to Ziyarah one of his lovers who have been spreading Islam in the Golden age of Islam in Nusantara.

Below is an article by Ustaz Zaidi Hassan which I decided to repost again on this blog on the biography of Tok Ku Paloh, may Allah bless him

Tok ku Paloh

Tok Ku Paloh was a very well known 'alim of Trengganu, his name is Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Idrus, and his grave is well-kept in Kampong Paloh, situated not far from his masjid. The title'Tok Ku' was given to him and his forefathers and decendants in Trengganu signified the high respect from the society for this blessed family, 'Tok Ku' ia abbrevition of 'Datuk Tengku', the title usuallyreserved for the royalties. And actually, in the recent past history of the Trengganu Sultanate, the leading 'alim from this family would coronate the new sultan for the state, and the members of this family was considered as having the same status or almost equal to the sultan's family itself, and some of them are until married to each other.

They practice naqshabandiyyah tariqah, some of them such as Tok Ku Pulau Embun and Tok Ku Paloh himself wrote a number of books in malay and arabic, especially on tasauf matter.
Tuan Guru Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong was a 'murid' to Tok Ku Paloh, he initiated a revolt against the British ruling on the land-tax imposed the people of Trengganu, he was, therefore was imprisoned for several times, and finally was exile by the British to Makkah, he died in Makkah. May Allah benefited us from their knowledge and amal.

Photo (The Maqam of Tok Ku Paloh inside the fence, we are sorry that we are unable to upload other photos of the maqam as we hope to seek the permission) And the Photo of Tok Ku Paloh. Top Photo Interior of the Tok ku Paloh zawiyah