Taman Tamadun Islam

Visiting Taman Tamadun Islam

          My trip to Terangganu in Malaysia was in Rainy season. My teachers, friends and I went there together by bus. The main place we need to visit was Taman Tamadun Islam (translates to “Islamic Civilization Park”). It is located in Wan Man Island in Kuala Terangganu. I have heard about that park from my teacher with including many mosques from around the world as duplicate but I had never gone before. That time was my new experience on the year 2010.

          Taman Tamadun Islam is an interactive journey of Islamic monuments of the world. It is an entertainment and educational destination. The initial scope involves the design of a site concept plan for educational and entertainment  precincts, which include lagoons, a convention centre, Islamic gardens of the world, an educational theme park, Wetlands and environmental reserves, and Islamic architectural images from around the world.

          The first I got off from the bus and stride to the area of Taman Tamadun Islam (TTI), I was surprised with the difference things with my country. I took a look around that park, it was very wide, beautiful, pleasing, delightful and attractive me to sight more into inside.

          I stepped to inside the park, I saw many tourists needed to stamp passport of Taman Monuments before going to sightseeing the most significant monument park ever built in this region, housing 21 scaled replicas of historical Islamic monuments and mosques from all around the world. We were standing like a train to stamp passports amidst crowded from many parts of the world. I did not remember all which places I faced first and which places I faced after. But I will struggle for as far as I can recollect what I have visited.

          One place I could not help but gasped when I saw the sacred “Dome of the Rock” right before my eyes. I mean, I was not even in Jerusalem; the monuments here were built so detailed that they resemble almost exactly the original buildings from the original place, only the size is smaller. However, the beauty of these monuments of centuries of age is enough to make amazed of realization how people manage to build such architecture during their area. The interior views of the “Dome of the Rock” replica was also made to look as its original and I could not help but stunned, even they built the foundation stone at the center of which in the Muslim belief, Prophet Muhammad used to step on during  the Isra’ and Mi’raj event. It also has significant value to the Jews as they pray facing the very stone. The Dome of the Rock replica is the only monument replica here built big enough for people to enter inside it.

From Jerusalem we went ahead to Andalusia in Spain where this Alhambra palaces and fortress was in the 14^th century by the Moorish rulers at that time. From this sightseeing, I would just be happy visiting Alhambra replica here.                                                                                   

          I forward to Taj Mahal, it is gorgeous building. The white color of the old building made me felt
very nice and wonderful. After this I went to sightseeing other things, I was wondering, how huge this
 monument park is? It is so huge. There are two huge mosques here are Mohammad Ali Pasha Mosque of
Egypt (built in 19^th century) and Suleymaniye Mosque of Turkey (built in the 16^th century). Also, I could
see the very tall minaret here, it is the Kalyan minaret of Uzbekistan. It is original building measure 48
meters tall and built in 1127AD. Amazing, right?

          I walked to the next building, it is the most familiar among all, it should be the Holy Masjidil-
Haram of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Actually the original mosque is too huge, but the replica seems too
small. So we could not enter to inside.

          The last mosque replica that I will tell you is the Prophet Mosque of Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
Same came with Masjidil- Haram, the replica now looks too small as well. Yet, being here rather brings
 you sentimental value pondering great Islamic architecture from all around the world. In fact I have
been to many countries seeing their most historical monument, just in a few I did not even cover all
monuments yet such as The great mosque of Qairawan, (Tunisia), Minaret of Xian(China),Sultan Omar
 Ali Saifuddin Mosque (Brunei), Pattani Mosque (Thailand),National Mosque (Malaysia) and etc.

Sigh, I missed talking some transportation that took me and my friends to see all of monuments from a monument to another. It was the lovely train with yellow in the bottom and red in the top. It was very long like the original train and it ran slowly around the park.

After visiting all mosques in TTI, we then had lunch together beside the wide and beautiful river. It was fresh weather with the wind was blowing and waving. By the way, I did not interested in the meal there because it was less of delicious and too expensive.

After finishing lunch, the one that I was unforgettable to tell you is Kristal Mosque. It
is a prayer mosque, not a replica. It was very surprising for me too because I had never
seen skeleton structure of mosque before. Most of the walls covered with glass and less concrete
 are used. From TTI area, we need to walk passed the long bridge to Kristal Mosque and under the
bridge and the mosque is river. So I just say it was very picturesque.

To sum up a visit Taman Tamdun Islam(Islamic Civilization Park) will be an

experience to remember.