The Seoul Central Mosque (; ) is a mosque opened in 1976 in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea. It is located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan District. It holds lectures in English, Arabic, and Korean. though regular attendance has sometimes been known to climb as high as eight hundred people.

History

In the decade or so before the construction of the mosque, the Korean Muslim Federation (originally known as the Korean Muslim Society) held services in a makeshift prayer hall located in the downtown area of Seoul. Fewer than three thousand Muslims were known to be living in Korea at the time.

President Park Chung Hee offered the Korean Muslim Federation land on which to build a proper mosque as a gesture of good will to potential Middle Eastern allies for the still young Republic of Korea. The governments of Saudi Arabia and several other Middle Eastern nations responded by providing funds to aid in the construction of the mosque.

Within one year of the opening of Seoul Central Mosque, the number of Muslims in Korea rose from less than three thousand to over fifteen thousand. That number rose again sharply to around one hundred fifty thousand with the large influx of foreign workers from Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia in the 1990s. By the 2000s, there were an estimated one hundred thousand Muslims in South Korea).

thumb|The men's prayer room inside the mosque (2023)

Since the opening of Seoul Central Mosque, seven more mosques have been built throughout Korea.

The wooden mimbar/pulpit of the mosque, from which the Friday sermon is delivered, was donated to the mosque and Muslim community of Korea by King Hassan II of Morocco.

Imams

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+

! Name

! Tenure

! Notes

|-

| Sulaiman Lee Haeng-Lae (이행래)

| c. 1979 – 2010

| One of Korea’s earliest Muslim leaders; documented as Imam in official Islamic publications and interviews in the 1980s–2000s.

|-

| Abdur Rahman Lee Ju-Hwa (이주화)

| 2010 – present

| First confirmed Korean-born Imam of the mosque; appointed June 2010.

|}

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File:한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21 (Completion Ceremony of Seoul Central Mosque) 01.jpg|

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See also

  • Islam in Korea
  • List of mosques in South Korea
  • List of first mosques by country

References

Further reading

  • Korea Muslim Federation Up to date news (Korean and English)
  • Religious Services in Seoul
  • Mosques in Korea
  • 한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21