Taiwan is home to a growing population of hundreds of thousands of Muslims, and as Southeast Asian migration to Taiwan continues, Islam and mosques have an increasingly important role in Taiwan’s cultural landscape. The largest mosque in Taiwan is also the island’s oldest – the Taipei Grand Mosque.
Whilst Islamic migration to Taiwan can be traced back to the few Ming dynasty loyalists who fled to the island with the legendary Koxinga in the 17th Century, the number was insignificant until the end of the Chinese Civil War – when tens of thousands of ethnically Hui Muslims from Mainland China fled to Taiwan. The Chinese Muslim Association, under increasing demand for prayer spaces, received a government loan of $100,000 and funding of $150,000 from the Shah of Iran and King of Jordan to build a mosque in central Taipei.
Credit: Taipei Grand Mosque
In the late 1950s, the mosque was rebuilt to accommodate the growing number of worshippers attending services. The subsequent building still remains distinctive in Taipei, located near Da’an park in the city centre. It features a fifteen-meter-tall dome, and two minarets reaching up to twenty meters in height – with the building itself being designed by renowned architect Yang Cho-cheng. Taipei Grand Mosque reflects Yang’s attempts to combine Persian and Ottoman architectural styles, making the building a landmark distinct from surrounding office blocks and convenience stores.
Credit: Taiwan Today
Notably, the mosque has been visited by several heads of state or government, such as Saudi King Faisal in 1971, which was become apart of the mosque’s long relationship with Saudi Arabia, which includes Imams from the country visiting the mosque. King Hussein of Jordan and various other religious and political leaders have also visited.
Hundreds celebrating Eid at Taipei Grand Mosque Credit: Taiwan News
Southeast Asian migrants now make up the majority of Taiwan’s Muslim population, and this has been reflected at Taipei Grand Mosque – most of the mosque’s attendees are now Southeast Asian and Indonesian is the third language displayed at mosque, following Mandarin and Arabic.
To find out more about Taipei Grand Mosque, please visit: https://www.taipeimosque.org.tw/