AL-MARKAZ AL-ISLAMI MOSQUE

The Al-Markaz Al-Islami Mosque, which is managed by the Islamic Center Foundation, is the grandest and largest mosque in the central point of eastern Indonesia, Makassar city, South Sulawesi Province. The monumental mosque stands firmly as a center of Islamic civilization and study and reflects the pride and identity of the people of South Sulawesi who are religious, civilized, and breathe Islam.

This magnificent mosque was designed by the architect who has overseen the construction of various large mosques, Ir. Ahmad Nu'man. The architecture is inspired by the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. Even so, the shape of the mosque does not forget the architectural elements of South Sulawesi. This can be seen from the rectangular roof-shaped roof that takes inspiration from the Katangka Mosque, Gowa's oldest mosque in South Sulawesi and Bugis-Makassar houses in general.

Overall, the building foundation is very strong with 450 piles 21 meters deep. For the roof used copper or Tegola made in Italy. The walls of the first floor use ceramics, while the second and third floors use granite.

The mihrab wall which is a visual center made of black granite is decorated with various rectangular calligraphy made of yellowish copper. This calligraphy consists of several verses and letters of the Qur'an, including: "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is Allah's Apostle". Meanwhile, above the mihrab is written the letter Al-Baqarah: 144, "So turn your face towards the Grand Mosque."

The mosque also has a minaret as high as 84 meters, with a size of 3 x 3 meters. The height of this tower is only less than 1 meter from the tower of the Prophet's Mosque. At a height of 17 meters, the tower has a water reservoir with a volume of 30 m3.

Another uniqueness of this mosque lies in its name. Since the end of December 2005, through a meeting of the management of the Islamic Center Foundation in Jakarta, the name Al-Markaz Al-Islami General M. Jusuf was agreed upon. This name is a tribute to the former Chairman of the BPK (late) General M. Jusuf, the originator of the idea of building the mosque complex and Islamic education.

However, at that time M. Jusuf asked the management not to use his name for the mosque unless "the time is right". So the administrators interpreted that M. Jusuf did not refuse but asked for the name to be affixed after his death.

Finally, it was agreed that, for the time being, the name used for the mosque that stood on the former Hasanuddin University campus was Masjid Al-Markaz Al-Islami (Islamic Center Mosque or Islamic Center Mosque). This mosque was officially used as the Center for Islamic Worship and Culture in Makassar.

Until now, the name Al-Markaz Al-Islami is still being maintained and will be equipped with the name of the initiator and founder, namely General M. Jusuf. Thus, this mosque in full will be named Masjid Al-Markaz Al-Islami Jenderal M. Jusuf.