Survey of Attaqwa Mosque in Chiangmai
Attaqwa mosque, located on the opposite side of the Ping River not too far from the Ban Ho mosque, was established in 1970, much later than the Ban Ho mosque. Before coming to Chiangmai, I had come across the Attaqwa mosque in a memoir by Dr. Zhao Xilin that I acquired in Taipei, in a section that recounts his encounter in Mecca with Hu Ranmao. Mr. Hu is described in the memoir as the main benefactor who enthusiastically initiated building of the Attaqwa Islamic School by the mosque, with some assistance from the World Muslim League in Mecca. The people whom I talked to in Ban Ho mosque were well aware of the name Hu Ranmao: he was a quite wealthy person who built the Attaqwa mosque because the Ban Ho mosque could no longer accommodate the increasing number of users of the Ban Ho mosque. Entrance to the Attaqwa Mosque and inside Detailed stories behind the building of Attaqwa mosque await further conversations next week, so this post will mostly contain photos I took
