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In 2017, a humanitarian organisation in Palestine invited Indonesian politician and professional architect Ridwan Kamil to design a mosque in the war-torn country after a number of mosques in Gaza were destroyed during the armed conflict between Palestine and Israel
Ridwan, who established a career as an architect before becoming the mayor of the Indonesian city of Bandung in 2013, has a penchant for designing mosques.
He agreed to take on the project, which costs an estimated IDR20 billion (USD1,364,834) to complete.
Fondly known as Kang Emil among Indonesians, Ridwan presented four separate designs to the people of Gaza for the mosque
They ultimately chose a futuristic design that did not feature a large central dome, a common feature found in most mosques.
When the final design of the Sheikh Ajlin Mosque was finally revealed to the public during a virtual groundbreaking ceremony officiated by Ridwan on 7 April, Indonesian netizens found it similar to a game console.
More specifically, they thought the mosque looked like Sony Interactive Entertainment’s next-gen game console, the PlayStation 5
“Talking about mosques, the mosque designed by Ridwan Kamil is similar to PS 5,” said this netizen.
Ini masjidnya pic.twitter.com/Sva3UGMlpV
— mardial (@_mardial_) January 11, 2021
Meanwhile, another netizen combined the two terms and called it “pray station”.
Pray Station https://t.co/mV8KHFzMHP
— Fairuz/R (@Fairuuz) April 9, 2021
The mosque is made up of three distinct geometric designs, which Ridwan said symbolised the values of Islam
Oleh warga Gaza, saya diminta untuk mendesain dan menggalang dana. Dari 4 pilihan desain yang saya berikan, inilah yang dipilih warga Gaza. Ada 3 struktur di depan yang mencerminkan filosofi Habluminallah, Habluminannas dan Hablumminalalam. pic.twitter.com/kDBDzs8ahC
— ridwan kamil (@ridwankamil) April 7, 2021
However, netizens were quick to point out that the three structures instead resembled three PlayStation 5 units lined up side-by-side vertically.
Image via IGN Southeast Asia
Despite the cheeky comments, it is clear that any similarities between the Sheikh Ajlin Mosque and the PlayStation 5 are purely coincidental.
The construction of the mosque will take an estimated 14 months to complete and the cost will be borne entirely by the people of Indonesia, many of whom have contributed donations to the project.
The original mosque was destroyed in 2014.
The full article originally appeared on IGN Southeast Asia
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