KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — Raising five sons alone after losing her husband at a young age is no easy task, but the late Tun Rahah Mohamed Noah with sheer grit and tenacity brought up all her children to become successful individuals.

In appreciation of the of the contributions and immeasurable sacrifices made by his beloved mother, the deceased’s youngest son, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazir Razak, who was also the former chairman of CIMB, built a mosque and named it after his mother as the Ar-Rahah Mosque in Kampung Kerinchi here.

Mohamed Nazir commissioned the building of Ar-Rahah Mosque at a cost of RM10.6 million on 1.70 hectares of land.

The construction of the mosque based on Uzbekistan architecture, which uses a lot of floral and geometric motifs, started on April 14, 2010 and was completed in October 2012, before being officially opened by the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah on October 21, 2016 .

Tun Rahah, who is also the mother of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, died at the age of 87 at the Prince Court Medical Centre here, at about 4.45 pm yesterday.

At about 7.50 this morning, the body of the late Tun Rahah was brought to the mosque to be bathed, to be wrapped in a shroud and for prayers.

People were allowed to pay their last respects at the mosque before the remains were brought to the National Mosque for the state funeral ceremony and later laid to rest at the Heroes’ Mausoleum.

Meanwhile, Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) director Mohd Ajib Ismail said the Ar-Rahah Mosque was capable of accommodating 2,500 worshipers at a time and was active in organising various events to convey spiritual knowledge and religious classes for the congregation in the surrounding area.

“The mosque site located in a hilly area was originally a squatter settlement which is land owned by the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council.

“Besides that, the congregation of five suraus around Kampung Kerinchi under the umbrella of the Ar-Rahah Mosque, namely Surau Al-Hidayah, Al-Hijrah, Ihsaniah, A'liyah and Madrasah Ittifaqiyyah, perform Friday prayers at this mosque,” he said.

Tun Rahah, the youngest daughter of leading politician the late Tan Sri Mohamed Noah Omar, was born on June 11, 1933 in Muar, Johor and received her early education at the Infant Jesus Convent, Johor Baharu.

She married the country’s second Prime Minister, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein on Sept 4, 1952 and had five children, all boys, namely Najib, Datuk Ahmad Johari, Datuk Mohamed Nizam, Datuk Mohamed Nazim and Mohamed Nazir.

Tun Rahah became a widow at the age of 43 when Abdul Razak died on Jan 14, 1976 due to leukaemia. — Bernama