Masjid Jamik Sheik Hasabollah At-Tohiri

Set in the harbour town of Sandakan on the north eastern coast of Sabah, facing the Sulu Sea, Masjid Jamik Sheik Hasabollah At Tohiri carries the name of a beloved local teacher whose students still remember his gentle voice in the long Ramadan nights. Sabah, once part of the Sultanate of Sulu before the British North Borneo era, has welcomed Muslim traders, fishermen, and scholars from Brunei, Mindanao, and the Bugis coast for centuries. Sandakan itself grew in the nineteenth century as a timber and pearl port, gathering Bajau, Suluk, and Bruneian Malay families around a small cluster of wooden mosques that later gave way to larger community masjids such as this one.

The title Jamik, from the Arabic jami, indicates that the mosque hosts the Friday congregational prayer, while the epithet At Tohiri refers to the purifying qualities of Qur'anic learning. Sheik Hasabollah was remembered in the kampung as a quiet man devoted to teaching tajwid and to visiting the sick, qualities praised by the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, when he said that the best of people are those most beneficial to others. Naming a mosque after such a teacher keeps his lessons alive each time a verse is recited within these walls.

Architecturally the building follows the Sabahan coastal taste. A green metal roof with tiered eaves, wide verandahs for shoe racks, tall windows open to the sea breeze, and a single slim minaret rise above the surrounding timber houses. Inside, pale tiles cover the floor, ceiling fans hum above kneeling worshippers, and a modest mihrab faces the Ka'bah across the wide ocean. A separate women's gallery welcomes mothers, daughters, and elderly aunts for the five daily prayers.

Daily timings for Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha at Masjid Jamik Sheik Hasabollah At Tohiri are listed on this page, together with the Sandakan address, a map pin, and hospitable notes for visitors arriving from the central markets, the Agnes Keith house, or the orangutan sanctuary at Sepilok. During Ramadan the congregation shares bowls of nasi lemak, rendang, and sweet tapai with every neighbour, and tarawih nights fill the hall with families from the surrounding Bajau and Suluk kampungs. Any traveller reaching this quiet corner of Borneo is warmly invited to pray, to rest in the shaded courtyard, and to breathe in the salt laden air of a town whose faith has crossed oceans for many generations already.