The Kapitan Keling Mosque is Georgetown's principal mosque and the spiritual heart of its long-established Indian Muslim community. The name refers to Caudeer Mohuddeen, the leader (kapitan) of the South Indian Muslim community in early 19th-century Penang who funded the original mosque on this site in 1801; "Keling" is the older Malay word for Indians of the subcontinent. The current building, mostly dating from a 1916 reconstruction, has a Mughal-influenced form: white-and-cream walls, ogee arches, slender minarets, a large dome over the prayer hall and four smaller ones over the corners.
Non-Muslim visitors are welcome outside prayer times; dress modestly (robes are provided at the entrance) and remove shoes before entering. The interior is bright and uncluttered — Islamic calligraphy on the walls, a richly carpeted prayer hall, the high-ceilinged dome overhead. The minaret muezzin's call still rings out five times a day across the surrounding lanes of Little India. The compound also includes a religious school and the small Muslim cemetery next door.