Masjid Baitussolihin Lendang Garuda Mareje Timur

Within the village of Jelateng Timur in West Nusa Tenggara, on the island of Lombok whose Hindu and Islamic communities have long coexisted across the shadow of Mount Rinjani, the hamlet of Lendang Garuda in Mareje Timur preserves this Masjid Baitussolihin, whose Arabic name translates as the house of the righteous. Lombok's Islamic heritage was shaped by the arrival of the saint Sunan Prapen, a disciple of the wali Sunan Giri of East Java, who brought the faith to the island in the sixteenth century, and by the subsequent Sasak scholars whose teaching circles in Bayan, Praya and Narmada shaped local devotional culture. The Sasak people, who form the majority on Lombok, preserve distinct traditions including the gendang beleq drumming ensembles, the peresean martial art and the traditional weaving of cloth whose motifs draw on both Islamic geometric patterns and older Austronesian designs. Architecturally the Baitussolihin mosque combines a whitewashed concrete hall with a green tiled dome, a single minaret finished in white tile and a porch shaded by a zinc roof extended over the courtyard. Inside, ceiling fans rotate above a green carpet, the mihrab is framed by calligraphic tile and the mimbar is carved from local timber. Five daily prayers are called by a rotating roster of village muezzins, Jumu'ah khutbah is delivered in Bahasa Indonesia with Arabic recitation and Ramadan evenings bring communal iftar shared across mats on the verandah with sweet bubur kacang hijau, fragrant ayam taliwang, rice and sambal bebalung. Tarawih continues past nine and qiyam sessions fill the final ten nights. Eid mornings draw families in woven ikat finery, and sweet kelepon rice cakes are shared afterwards. Visitors should dress modestly, leave shoes on the low wooden shelves and accept the polite offer of sweet tea. Nearby lie the black sand beaches of Tanjung Aan, the Sasak heritage village of Sade, the traditional Narmada water palace built by a Balinese rajah and the slopes of Mount Rinjani rising behind a dense forest. A small plaque near the main entrance records the names of the ninety three founding families whose collective gotong royong labour raised the mosque's walls beam by beam during the early nineteen nineties, honouring a Lombok tradition of mutual assistance that remains alive in the village's approach to every shared project.