{{Short description|Mosque in South Korea}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Seoul Central Mosque | native_name = 서울중앙성원<br> 서울中央聖院 | native_name_lang = ko | image_upright = | image = Seoul Central Mosque 01 (front-facing).jpg | alt = | caption = The mosque (2023) | map_type = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_relief = | map_caption = | coordinates = {{Coord|37|32|0|N|126|59|51|E|type:landmark_region:KR|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_footnotes = | religious_affiliation = Islam | locale = | location = Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea | deity = | rite = | sect = | tradition = Sunnism | festival = <!-- or | festivals = --> | cercle = | sector = | administration = | consecration_year = | organisational_status = <!-- or | organizational_status = --> | functional_status = | heritage_designation = | ownership = Korea Muslim Federation | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | architect = | architecture_type = Mosque | architecture_style = | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = | groundbreaking = | year_completed = | construction_cost = | date_demolished = <!-- or | date_destroyed = --> | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | site_area = | temple_quantity = | monument_quantity = | shrine_quantity = | inscriptions = | materials = | elevation_m = <!-- or | elevation_ft = --> | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | footnotes = | website = }}
The '''Seoul Central Mosque''' ({{langx|ko|서울중앙성원}}; {{Langx|ar|مسجد سول المركزي}}) 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.<ref name=":0" /> Friday prayers regularly attract between four hundred and five hundred worshipers in the afternoon,<ref name=":1">Kim Eun Mee, and Jean S. Kang. "Seoul As A Global City With Ethnic Villages." ''Korea Journal'' 4 (2007): 64. ''Academic OneFile''. Web. 16 July 2016.</ref> though regular attendance has sometimes been known to climb as high as eight hundred people.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|author=Bae Ji-sook|title=Life is Very Hard for Korean Muslims|newspaper=The Korea Times|date=2007-08-10|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/08/117_8104.html|accessdate=2008-12-19}}</ref>
==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.<ref name=":2">Baker, Don. "Islam Struggles For A Toehold In Korea." ''Harvard Asia Quarterly'' 10.1 (2006): 25-30. ''Academic Search Complete''. Web. 16 July 2016.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-05-21 |title=[김나미의 열린 마음, 열린 종교] 1. 이슬람 서울 모스크 |url=https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/339625 |access-date=2025-10-08 |website=중앙일보 |language=ko}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=중동붐을 타고 온 이슬람 '서울중앙성원' [백남우 칼럼] - 미디어파인 |url=https://www.mediafine.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=4001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122062121/https://www.mediafine.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=4001 |archive-date=2022-01-22 |access-date=2025-12-16 |language=ko}}</ref> The governments of Saudi Arabia and several other Middle Eastern nations responded by providing funds to aid in the construction of the mosque.<ref name=":1" /> Most of the funds came from Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/01/19/south-koreas-approach-to-planning-is-starkly-unsentimental|title=South Korea's approach to planning is starkly unsentimental|date=2019-01-17|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2019-03-29|issn=0013-0613}}</ref> 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<ref name=":2" /> (though some estimates suggest there being as many as two hundred thousand<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2007/08/2008525133627997592.html|title=South Korean hostage talks 'likely'|last=|first=|date=3 August 2007|website=Al Jazeera English|publisher=|access-date=16 July 2016}}</ref>). 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.<ref name=":2" /> However, Seoul Central Mosque remains the only mosque in the Seoul Capital Area and thus it serves as the functional hub of the Islamic cultural community in Seoul. A busy commercial area has developed around the mosque, primarily centered around the sale and preparation of Middle Eastern cuisine and other halal food.<ref name=":1" />
While the 2007 South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan was underway, Seoul Central Mosque became the location of several anti-Islamic protests by Christian groups and the recipient of various bomb threats, to the point where a significant increase in police presence was deemed necessary to prevent an attack on worshipers or else on the building itself.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />
==Architecture== [[File:Seoul Central Mosque 06.jpg|thumb|A street-level entrance to the mosque, with the ''Shahada'' written in Korean: "하나님 외에 다른 신은 없습니다. 무함마드는 그 분의 사도입니다" (2023)]] The mosque is also noted for its characteristically Islamic design. The large minarets on the building and the engraved Arabic calligraphy near its entrance are noteworthy in particular as being as out of place among the more standard Korean architecture that makes up the rest of Itaewon.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=서울중앙성원 {{!}} 한국이슬람교 |url=https://www.koreaislam.org/seoul-muslim-info%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%EC%A4%91%EC%95%99%EC%84%B1%EC%9B%90%EC%95%88%EB%82%B4/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503080248/https://www.koreaislam.org/seoul-muslim-info%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%EC%A4%91%EC%95%99%EC%84%B1%EC%9B%90%EC%95%88%EB%82%B4/ |archive-date=2019-05-03 |access-date=2025-12-16 |website=www.koreaislam.org |language=ko-KR}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zamakda Allison |first=Safwaan |date=30 May 2023 |title=Islamic Educational Provisions in South Korea and Indonesia: A Comparison |url=https://ojs.iainbatusangkar.ac.id/ojs/index.php/jies/article/view/8772/3516 |journal=Journal of Islamic Education Students |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=50–61 |doi=10.31958/jies.v3i1.8772 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911042359/http://ejournal.uinmybatusangkar.ac.id/ojs/index.php/jies/article/view/8772 |archive-date=11 September 2024|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref>
== 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Muslim World. March 2011 ISSUE |url=https://www.motamaralalamalislami.org/muslimworld/april_2011/islam_%26_muslims_in_korea.html#:~:text=In%20July%2C%201979%2C%20another%20branch,was%20also%20opened%20in%201982 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251123180837/https://www.motamaralalamalislami.org/muslimworld/april_2011/islam_%26_muslims_in_korea.html#:~:text=In%20July%2C%201979%2C%20another%20branch,was%20also%20opened%20in%201982 |archive-date=2025-11-23 |access-date=2025-11-23 |website=www.motamaralalamalislami.org }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Controversial Rights Center for Muslims Abandoned - The Korea Times |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/globalcommunity/20091027/controversial-rights-center-for-muslims-abandoned |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251123181044/https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/globalcommunity/20091027/controversial-rights-center-for-muslims-abandoned |archive-date=2025-11-23 |access-date=2025-11-23 |website=www.koreatimes.co.kr |language=en}}</ref> |- | '''Abdur Rahman Lee Ju-Hwa''' (이주화) | 2010 – present | First confirmed Korean-born Imam of the mosque; appointed June 2010.<ref name="rahman">{{Cite web |title=» World Interfaith Harmony Week » Understanding Islam, South Korea – 4 February 2012 |url=https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/understanding-islam/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425095143/https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/understanding-islam/ |archive-date=2017-04-25 |access-date=2025-11-23 |website=worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-05-18 |title=Young Muslims become flag-bearers of Islam in South Korea via social media |url=https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1498891/world |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251123181458/https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1498891/world |archive-date=2025-11-23 |access-date=2025-11-23 |work=Arab News PK |language=en}}</ref> |}
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Mosque viewed from Gyeongbu Expressway at Itaewon.jpg| File:Eid al-Fitr in Korea Republic (2).jpg| File:Seoul central mosque 02.jpg| File:Seoul Central Mosque 05.jpg| File:한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21 (Completion Ceremony of Seoul Central Mosque) 01.jpg| File:한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21 (Completion Ceremony of Seoul Central Mosque) 24.jpg| File:한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21 (Completion Ceremony of Seoul Central Mosque) 23.jpg| File:한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21 (Completion Ceremony of Seoul Central Mosque) 21.jpg| File:한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21 (Completion Ceremony of Seoul Central Mosque) 12.jpg| File:한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21 (Completion Ceremony of Seoul Central Mosque) 08.jpg| </gallery>
==See also== {{Portal|South Korea|Islam}} *Islam in Korea *List of mosques in South Korea *List of first mosques by country
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Song |first=Doyoung |date=2016 |title=Ummah in Seoul: The Creation of Symbolic Spaces in the Islamic Central Masjid of Seoul |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/641037 |journal=Journal of Korean Religions |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=37–68 |doi=10.1353/jkr.2016.0010 |issn=2167-2040}} * {{Cite journal |last=Cho |first=Yun-O |last2=Choi |first2=Choon |date=2020-11-30 |title=Historical Review and Architectural Analysis on the Planning and Transformation of Seoul Central Masjid |url=https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2020.36.11.105 |journal=Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea |volume=36 |issue=11 |pages=105–116 |doi=10.5659/JAIK.2020.36.11.105}} * *
==External links== {{commons}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071014011431/http://www.koreaislam.org/ Korea Muslim Federation Up to date news (Korean and English)] * {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMHehC5JkEU |title=대한뉴스 제 1084호-모스크 준공식 |date=2016-12-08 |last=KTV 아카이브 |access-date=2025-10-08 |via=YouTube}} * {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sId0yEReCI |title=MUHHAMMAD ALI IN Seoul Central Mosque |date=2025-06-21 |last=MUHAMMAD ALI RARE INTERVIEWS |access-date=2026-01-18 |via=YouTube}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060208085326/https://english.seoul.go.kr/residents/religlous/rel_01.htm Religious Services in Seoul] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20050212020918/http://islamkorea.com/english/mosques.html Mosques in Korea] *[https://archives.seoul.go.kr/item/3297 한국 이슬람교 중앙성원 준공식, 1976-05-21]
{{Mosques in South Korea}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1976 establishments in South Korea Category:Mosques completed in 1976 Category:Bangladeshi diaspora in Asia Category:Buildings and structures in Yongsan District Category:Indonesian diaspora in Asia Category:Asian diasporas in Asia Category:Mosques in South Korea Category:Pakistani diaspora in Asia Category:Religious buildings and structures in Seoul Category:Sunni mosques in Asia Category:Itaewon Category:20th-century architecture in South Korea Category:20th-century mosques in South Korea