Brilio.net - Recently, social media was shocked by the fact that a mosque, which is usually a place for worship, wanted to be sold by its owner. This happened at the Fatimah Umar Mosque in Bangkala Village, Manggala District, Makassar City. It is known that the land where the mosque stands has not been donated and the owner admitted that he needed money to build the Islamic boarding school.
At the mosque there was an advertising banner hanging saying that the land was for sale. Also written is the contact person, Hilda Rahman, complete with cellphone number and certificate number of ownership of the land where the mosque stands.
The news of this sale was confirmed by the local sub-district head, Andi Eldi Indra Malka. He said that he had carried out mediation regarding the viral upload.
photo: Liputan6.com/Fauzan
Eldi suspects that the land owner's decision to sell was due to offense. The reason is, every time there is a repair and construction of a mosque , the land owner is never notified.
"Perhaps there was offense from that side, so he wanted to sell the assets he owned based on the banner," he said as quoted by Merdeka.com on Tuesday (16/7).
The Manggala sub-district head further explained that Hilda Rahman wanted to sell two plots of land measuring approximately 600 square meters. Meanwhile, the location where the mosque stands is 300 square meters.
In this case, as the sub-district head, Eldi really regrets Hilda Rahman's decision to sell the land. He admitted he couldn't do anything. Because, administratively, Hilda is the legal owner of the land in the mosque.
"It's very unfortunate that in the past the owner said he wanted to use it for prayer. This is what we regret, why you gave permission but suddenly it ended up being sold," he said.
"But what can we do? He has a reason (to sell), but we can't do anything about it," he stressed.
photo: merdeka.com
Although it is confusing, the land is priced at Rp. 2.5 billion. Eldi certainly hopes that someone will buy the land and endow it for the mosque.
"Then secondly, who knows, there may be people in Makassar City who want to donate their wealth to buy a mosque, which would be better for the benefit of the community," he hoped.
In line with Eldi, Ismail Kappaja as imam of the Fatimah Umar Mosque also said that the land had not been donated. Previously, Hilda's family wanted to live on this land. However, there was something that prevented him from occupying the land. Residents finally gathered funds in droves and built a mosque on the land, apparently without the land owner's knowledge.
"So this isn't really a waqf. The family's initial plan was to stay, but it wasn't completed. So (the family) built a prayer room, but it wasn't finished. Then the residents tried to raise funds and then the building was completed into a mosque. The owner doesn't really know how things are going like that. ," he said.
photo: Liputan6.com/Fauzan
Ismail said that the land owner wanted to sell the land because he wanted to build an Islamic boarding school in Jakarta. News of this land sale also occurred several months ago when Hilda contacted Ismail to inform him of this. However, they had time to mediate which ultimately changed Hilda's decision not to sell her land.
"Finally it was cancelled, it was not sold. Finally Mrs. Hilda came with her younger brother, Habib Mahmud, and this mosque was handed over to her younger brother. Yes, at that time we considered it finished that this mosque was not sold," he said.
However, suddenly, Hilda contacted Ismail again who said he wanted to sell the land. Just like the sub-district head, Ismail couldn't do anything. He can only hope that the mosque will continue to be used for its function.
"We are here to see how this mosque continues to function as a mosque, that if it is sold to someone who does not change the function of this mosque," he concluded.
Responding to this, the Mayor of Makassar, Moh Ramdhan Pomanto, invited the public to make voluntary donations to maintain the mosque. In fact, the city government could buy the land, but of course it would require a long process. Therefore, as a quick step, it is better for the community to work together.
"I appeal to all Muslims who want to do good deeds, let's liberate this land together. If there is one strong person or if there are a lot of us, come on, let's maintain the function of the existing mosque. We can even renovate the mosque for the better," he stressed.