Mughal or Moorish Architecture: The Origins of Malaysian Mosques During Colonial Periods

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of foreign architecture on the ‘NeoMughal’ or ‘Moorish’ style of design seen in Malaysian mosques of the colonial period (1800-1930). The colonial period of Malaysian history is one of the best examples of the emergence and influence of various imported types of architecture, especially Islamic ones. The trend of ‘Neo-Mughal’ or ‘Moorish’ design is notable due to the different beliefs and attitudes regarding the influence of Moorish or Mughal architecture. This difference is already poignant even in its taxonomy, for instance, based on the classification of Dr. Ghafar Ahmad (1997) in ‘British Colonial Architecture in Malaysia 1800-1930’, this trend is regarded as being of Moorish influence while in the work of John Michael Gullick (1998), the style was regarded that of the ‘British Raj’, created from the combination of Mughal and Gothic styles. The significance of the research is to reveal the manner and contact of Islamic foreign styles on Malaysian buildings, particularly in this period, where the amount of influence from stranger styles was at its peak. The research methodology selected for this paper is historical interpretative using the case study approach. The first step in the research is studying different attitudes of the trend argument by reviewing secondary data. This will be followed by the selection of a suitable case study and comparative analysis between a case study of Malaysian mosques with samples of the Mughal and Moorish architecture. The findings of research show which Mughal and Moorish architecture influenced Malaysian mosques more and which of the attitudes of this argument is more accurate.