INDONESIA LOMBOK -THE ISLAND OF A THOUSAND MASJID

THE ISLAND OF A THOUSAND MASJID

People know Lombok for its other name i.e the island of a Thousand Masjid. This name matches Lombok’special feature – masjid. It is very easy to find masjid across the island. Moslems, Lombok’s majority population, support the use of masjid in marking the island .This Islamic worship building is available in many locations across the island. Considering the spread and number of Masjid in Lombok.It guarantees travelers with sureness of being able to worship ( shalat ) right on time. They can take a stop or a rest and conduct their worship at any time, even in a trip to visit destinations.

A thousand Masjid in Lombok offer certainly to Moslem travelers to conduct the worship while in a tour. It also can be attractive objects for tourists, Lombok keeps conspicuous history of Islam manifested in old buildings (heritage) and other relics or remainders of Islam propagation. Besides modern architecture Masjid, some old Masjid keeps its original architecture and well maintained. On the other hand, Lombok demonstrates the history of Islam with a great degree of tolerance to other religion (Hindu) . The symbolization of tolerance is demonstrated in Lingsar Park. In this site, there are 2 worship places for Hindu and Islam located side by side. In worshipping, both religions have performed tolerance for decades or even centuries and still occur until today.

Nowadays, the growth of Islam is even shown by the construction of a huge worship site that many accommodate thousands people, the Islamic center. This huge and magnificent building is still under construction located in the center of Mataram City. The building is aimed as the most sophisticated facility for Moslems to serve regular worship. However, it is not only for this purpose. Beyond that, this building is also equipped with modern facilities to promote various studies about Islam in the past and present or classic and modern. This site will become the symbol of Islamic glory growing and developing rapidly in Lombok.

Lombok government prepare the Islamic center as a buffer of placing and developing of ShariaTourism  the Islamic measures in tourism industry – in Lombok. Starting with this magnificent building, local governor commences to drive Lombok as one of destinations for Sharia Tourism. This brilliant initiative gains positive response from the central government. As a response, the Ministry of Tourism of Republic of Indonesia legalizes Lombok as one of 12 Sharia destinations around the archipelago.