Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque (Blue Mosque), Shah Alam

Shah Alam was declared the new capital of Selangor in 1974, and the state's ruler, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, commissioned a grand state mosque for the city. Construction began in 1982 and was completed on 11 March 1988. The architect, Dato Baharuddin Abu Kassim, had earlier been part of the team behind Kuala Lumpur's National Mosque.

The design blends Malay and modernist architecture with traditional Islamic features. The calligraphy on the dome and walls was the work of the Egyptian calligrapher Sheikh Abdel Moneim Mohamed Ali El Sharkawi, and the dome is clad in enamel-coated steel panels.

When it opened, the mosque held the record for the world's tallest minaret, until the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca surpassed it in 1993. Its four minarets are still among the tallest in the world. Visit Selangor describes it as the largest mosque in Malaysia, with room for up to 24,000 worshippers.

As Selangor's state mosque, the Blue Mosque is the setting for major religious and royal occasions in the state. On Fridays it fills with thousands of worshippers, and during Ramadan the grounds come alive in the evenings with the breaking of the fast and night prayers. It also hosts religious classes, lectures and community programmes. For many families in Shah Alam it is simply their local mosque, a place for weddings, prayers and gatherings.