Imarah under Strain: Renovation, Pandemic, and the Development of Religious and Social Life at Masjid Agung Al-Imam, Majalengka, 2017–2023

Abstract

This article examines religious and social activity at Masjid Agung Al-Imam, the regency mosque of Majalengka, West Java, across renovation and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2017–2023. It draws on dated DKM records, contemporary reports, and publicly documented activities. Using Sidi Gazalba’s account of the mosque’s functions and Piotr Sztompka’s distinction between institutional reproduction and morphogenesis, it compares evidence of worship and instruction before the pandemic with later records of health restrictions, staffing, and zakat administration. A 2017 funding request, 2019 accountability report, 2020 health notice, 2021 duty roster, and 2022 decree establishing a Zakat Collection Unit supply the principal chronological anchors. The evidence documents continued provision for congregational worship under changed conditions and a new formal mechanism for collecting zakat. It does not establish uninterrupted teaching, comprehensive annual activity, or the long-term durability of the new unit. The article offers a bounded historical account of imarah under successive disruptions.