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Ban Dato Mosque (Dato Mosque)

Ban Dato Mosque (Dato Mosque)

Ban Dato Mosque, aka Dato Mosque The Ban Dato Mosque or simply Dato Mosque, officially known as Masjid Darul Naim, is located in Moo 4, Ban Dato, Laem Pho Sudistrict, Yaring District, Pattani, in the middle of the Tachi Cape, about 10 kilometres northwest of the district office. It is accessible via the same route as Talo Kapo Beach. It has an area of 240 square metres. As a major religious and historical attraction, the mosque was registered as an ancient monument by the Fine Arts Department in 1935. It underwent several renovations. The renovation in 1996 made the structure of the mosque more stable. The history of the mosque begins when Se Awae-o, an immigrant from the Malay state of Terengganu hired the Chinese to build a place of worship for Muslims. Since this group of Chinese was later hired by the sultan to construct the Krue Se Mosque in 1722, it is assumed that The Dato Mosque was founded around 1720, in the late Ayutthaya Period, or about 270 years ago. The mosque became a major place of worship for Muslim merchants and navigators who came to Pattani at that time. The original mosque is built of bricks and mortar and not coated with plaster. It is 10 metre wide, 15 metre long and six metre high. The floor is 0.6 metre high. It has round Gothic columns, doors and windows. Above the centre of the mosque is a 4.5 metre high huge dome; however, some parts of the building do not have roofs. The new mosque was later built on the east side of the old one so as to increase the mosque’s capacity to hold religious rituals for a number of local Muslim residents.