Kubur Kassim

Kubur Kassim
The main entrance to the cemetery.
Kubur Kassim is located in Singapore
Kubur Kassim
Location within Singapore
General information
Typecemetery
Architectural style
Islamic architecture
Location426 Siglap Road, Singapore 455933, Siglap, Singapore
Coordinates1°18′59″N 103°55′22″E / 1.3165008°N 103.9226443°E / 1.3165008; 103.9226443
Opened30 April 1921 (1921-04-30)
Closed1973 (1973)

Kubur Kassim (Jawi: كوبور قاسم) is a closed Islamic cemetery located in the Siglap district of Bedok, Singapore. Established in 1921, it is named after its founder, Ahna Mohamed Kassim.[1] Under the ownership of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) since 1989, the cemetery is a popular destination for performing ziyarah, especially by people of Bugis heritage.[2]

History

Ahna Mohamed Kassim, an Indian Muslim trader, donated a portion of his lands in Siglap as an awqāf for the establishment of an Islamic burial ground in 1921.[3][4][5] After Kassim died in 1935, ownership and management of the cemetery was transferred to his heirs.[6] Along with other Islamic cemeteries outside of the Choa Chu Kang locality, Kubur Kassim was officially closed for burials in 1973.[7] The SLA acquired the land in 1987 and earmarked the cemetery for future developments in housing.[8] The process of acquiring the land took two years and was finally completed in 1989.[3] To preserve the memory of the cemetery, as well as update government records, major burials in the cemetery with intact or undisturbed tombstones were recorded on microfilm in 1997.[9]

In 2019, the descendants of Ahna Mohamed Kassim, represented by a woman named Fauziah in court, sued and attempted to re-buy the cemetery from the SLA. However, their cases were deemed invalid and the land was not sold to them.[10]

Significant sites

Mausoleum of the Moonshi family

This brick mausoleum entombs the remains of Hafeezudin Sirajuddin Moonshi (1895–1965) along with his wife and son. In 2022, the mausoleum was renovated and it was given a new blue and gold coat of paint.[3]

Zawiya

In the centre of a cemetery is a zawiya that functions as a place of prayer as well as a madrasa.[3] It is attached to the tomb of Khwaja Habibullah Shah, a Muslim scholar of the Hanafi school who was buried there in 1971.[11] The zawiya is a place for Sufi gatherings, especially for those who intend to perform ziyarah to the Sufi mystics buried in the cemetery.[3]

Keramats

Four keramats are located in the cemetery, with the first three located at the end of the cemetery.[3] The first of the keramats in this area consists of the graves of Habib Ali bin Abu Bakr, the second consists of the graves of an unknown family, while the third consists of a grave revered by Chinese devotees.[3] Habib Ali is a prominent Sufi mystic, known by his title Gohead Gostan.[12] The fourth keramat is located in the western section of the cemetery and consists of the grave of Daeng Fatimah, a Bugis shaman.[13] This grave was originally part of a larger mausoleum that served as a shelter to homeless Muslims, until it was demolished in the late 1990s.[14]

Burials

There at least three thousand burials in the cemetery, most of which were recorded on microfilm.[9]

Notable burials

Mythology

Local mythology claims that the outgrown graves in the cemetery belong to the orang bunian, a race of mythological cryptids.[15][16] The cemetery was also described by locals as being a "haunted" place, making it a popular destination for thrill seekers and ghost hunters.[17] In 2020, a hoax sign was placed at the cemetery telling visitors to "beware of ghosts" only for the National Environment Agency (NEA) to remove the sign and deny that they had ever endorsed the placement of such a sign.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lim, Yvonne (20 August 1994). "Home by the buried". The New Paper. p. 5.
  2. ↑ Mohsen, Suhaimi (28 October 2016). "Jurutera jadikan kubur lama sebagai 'makmal' kaji sejarah Bugis" [Engineers turn old grave into 'laboratory' to study Bugis history]. Berita Harian. p. 16.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gibson, William (2022). "A complete catalog of keramat in Singapore". Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship Submission (Digitised ed.): 290–319 – via National Library Board.
  4. 1 2 "Past and Present Cemeteries of Singapore (Part 2) – Malay/Muslim Burial Grounds". Remember Singapore. 2019-09-01. Retrieved 2026-01-13.
  5. ↑ Jamil, Erdina (1 May 2015). "Wakaf sebagai sumber dana dan pendapatan untuk masjid". Berita Harian. p. 7.
  6. ↑ "Kubur Kassim". City Days. 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2026-01-13.
  7. ↑ "Penutupan 7 tanah kuburan". Berita Harian. 1 September 1973. p. 5. Ketujuh buah tanah perkuburan Islam yang terlibat dalam tindakan itu ialah: Tanah Perkuburan Sekijang Pelapah; Pasir Panjang; Kubur Wakaff Teban; Kubur Kassim (Siglap); Kubur Wakaff Siglap Darat; Kubur di Masjid Hajjah Fatimah dan Tanah Perkuburan Ulu Pandan [The seven Muslim cemeteries involved in the action are: Sekijang Pelapah Cemetery; Pasir Panjang; Teban Wakaff Cemetery; Kassim Cemetery (Siglap); Siglap Darat Wakaff Cemetery; Graves at Hajjah Fatimah Mosque and Ulu Pandan Cemetery]
  8. ↑ "Kubur Kassim". City Days. 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2026-01-13.
  9. 1 2 Ghouse, Aref (31 May 1997). "Kubur lama Islam mula dicatat dalam mikrofilem" [Old Islamic graves begin to be recorded on microfilm]. Berita Harian. p. 19.
  10. ↑ "声称被征收土地属祖先遗产 女子官司未开打诉讼就被撤销" [The lawsuit filed by a woman claiming that the expropriated land belonged to her ancestors was dismissed before it even began.]. Lianhe Zaobao. 30 December 2019. p. 4.
  11. ↑ Rivers, P. J. (2003). "Keramat in Singapore in the Mid-Twentieth Century". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 76 (2 (285)): 93–119. ISSN 0126-7353.
  12. ↑ Muhammad Faisal Husni (2018). The grave that became a shrine: the lives of keramat graves in Singapore (Master of Arts (Research) thesis). Nanyang Technological University. doi:10.32657/10220/47512. hdl:10220/47512.
  13. ↑ Asharani, Latisha (2025-01-13). "Kubur Kassim, Tempat Peristirahatan Tokoh Muslim yang Menyimpan Sejuta Cerita dan Tradisi di Singapura" [Kubur Kassim, the Resting Place of a Muslim Figure That Holds a Million Stories and Traditions in Singapore]. pantau.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  14. ↑ Hamzah, Farid (27 August 2000). "Tanah perkuburan jadi tempat berteduh" [The cemetery becomes a place of shelter]. Berita Harian. p. 3.
  15. ↑ Riccardo. "Kubur Kassim Cemetery in Singapore". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
  16. ↑ Ng, Desmond (8 April 2017). "From ghosts and mass graves, to Einstein: 10 stories we bet you didn't know about Siglap". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
  17. ↑ Chantal, Sajan (23 August 2020). "Haunting Grounds". The Straits Times. pp. 6–7.
  18. ↑ Hao, Zhi (2020-12-01). "NEA Says Image of Closed Cemetery With 'Beware of Ghost' is Fake". Goody Feed. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
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