Meaning of Al-Ansar

Al-Ansar means “The Helpers”. It denotes the people of Madinah that helped Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and the Muhajirin people that migrated with Rasulullah S.A.W. from Makkah. Al-Ansar belonged to two main tribes – Bani Khazraj and Bani Aus.

Bedok Estate in 1970’s

Bedok was a new HDB estate in the 1970s. Majority of the Muslim residents of Bedok were originally resettled from Changi and Telok Paku areas affected by the development of Changi Airport and those from the Geylang Serai, Kampung Ubi and Eunos areas that made way for urbanisation.

Initial Days
The history of Masjid Al-Ansar began in 1974 when a meeting was held among a few Muslim community leaders within the area. They wanted a mosque to be built in the estate. Subsequently, a proposal to set up a Mosque Building Committee (MBC) was forwarded to MUIS.

1 October 1974 
MUIS approved the MBC and advanced $1,000 for a start to set up the committee.

23 November 1974
A Certificate Presentation Ceremony (Majlis Penyampaian Tauliah) to the appointed MBC was held at the basketball court of Blk 35, Chai Chee Avenue. Muis appointed a total of 23 committee members in the MBC and 21 fund-raisers to build the mosque.

18 January 1975
A few names of the mosque were brought forward to Tuan Hj Kiyai Ahmad Zohri Mutamin, a respected ulamak and community leader.

17 February 1975
During the 3rd MBC meeting, they agreed that the mosque should be named as Masjid Al-Ansar.

6 April 1977
The base site was chosen next to the junction of Chai Chee Street and Bedok North Avenue 1 (beside Blk 41 Chai Chee) with land size of about 3165.1 sqm, bought at a cost of $140 thousand.

28 May 1977
HDB, who designed the mosque, showed the MBC the model design of the mosque which featured the huge dome concept.

14 June 1977
The commencement of building Al-Ansar Mosque built under the phase one of Mosque Building Fund (MBF) programme. The building cost was $1.501 million.

14 January 1979
The finding Qiblat direction ceremony was held.

14 June 1981
The opening ceremony of the mosque officiated by Dr Ahmad Mattar, the Ministry in-charge of Muslim Affairs at that time. The journey to build Al-Ansar Mosque lasted 7 years (1974 – 1981).

7 September 1981
Madrasah Masjid Al-Ansar was opened providing the needs of Islamic Education for children in the community. Ustaz Syed Abdillah Ahmad Aljufri was instrumental in leading the madrasah in the early years.

2000
After nearly two decades, the mosque exterior façade colour was changed from green to blue.

10 September 2012
The mosque moved to a temporary site at the junction of Bedok North Road and Bedok North Avenue 1 to make way for the development of an upgraded mosque at the original site.

24 April 2015
The mosque reopened at its original site after two and a half years of rebuilding.