The performance of imarah of planned and unplanned mosque's

Abstract

Mosques are an important institution for the Muslim community. One of the important concepts that is to strengthening the institution of mosques is imarah. Recognising the importance of the concept of mosque imarah, scholars have conducted various studies regarding it. However, previous studies only focused on measuring the quality of imarah from the aspect of facilities, activities, financial status, and organisation. As of today, there are limited studies that have studied the relationship between the effects of planned mosques and unplanned mosques on the quality of mosque imarah. Considering that previous studies on the measurement of mosque imarah quality does not include the spatial planning aspects as well as the contradicting approaches of modem spatial planning with traditional Islamic concept, this research attempts to investigate and conduct a study on unplanned and planned mosques in contributing to the quality of mosque imarah. This research will focus on two areas: urban and suburban areas in Selangor. The study measured the quality of mosque imarah by using the modified Key Performance Indicators for Facility Performance Measurement on the planned and unplanned mosque in urban and suburban areas in Selangor. This research quantitatively examines planned qariah mosque in Selangor which are Masjid AlFirdaus and Masjid Al-Falah as well as unplanned qariah mosque in Selangor which are Masjid Al-Hidayah and Masjid Nurul Iman. The relationship between the quality of mosque imarah with the planned and unplanned mosques were examined using questionnaire surveys of 442 respondents from the research area. The strength of relationship between the independent and dependent variables were tested using Spearman's correlation analysis. Results of the research provide empirical evidence to support that mosque location, facilities, activities, management, financial aspect and mosque attendance had a positive relationship towards the quality of mosque imarah. It is also found that large qariah mosque boundary negatively contributes towards lower satisfaction level of imarah by user. Therefore, this research suggested that the current qariah mosque planning standard to include the criteria on the size of qariah mosque boundary and the maximum mean distances from residential and commercial units to the mosque. The addition of this criteria to the current qariah mosque planning standard will enhance the locational aspect in the quality of mosque imarah.