INDONESIA — Residents in Aceh’s highland district of Gayo Lues have begun building a temporary mosque alongside Indonesian Army personnel, in a local effort to restore a central place of worship as communities recover from the floods and landslides that hit parts of Sumatra in late 2025, Indonesian media reported. (Source – ANTARA, February 1, 2026; MetroTV, February 1, 2026)

The temporary mosque is being erected in Tetingi village in Pantan Cuaca subdistrict, with soldiers from the Indonesian Army’s territorial unit working with residents to prepare the site and lay groundwork, according to an ANTARA report that cited the Presidential Media Team. (Source – ANTARA, February 1, 2026)

Officials said the same unit has also assisted with practical needs in the village, including cleaning a school area, repairing small electrical installations at a village clinic, digging for clean-water access, and providing basic health outreach, as part of wider post-disaster recovery operations in Aceh and neighboring provinces. (Source – ANTARA, February 1, 2026)

The mosque build has drawn attention because it reflects how, in many Muslim communities, restoring a functioning prayer space is treated as part of restoring daily life itself—alongside housing, roads, and livelihoods—particularly after large-scale disruption. (Source – ANTARA, February 1, 2026)

Disaster recovery in Aceh and the wider Sumatra emergency

Aceh was among the provinces hit by severe floods and landslides in late November 2025, an emergency that Indonesian authorities and international relief trackers say caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure and drove significant displacement across parts of Sumatra, with casualty figures that have varied in public reporting over time as assessments were updated. (Source – Reuters, November 29, 2025; ANTARA English, January 7, 2026; ReliefWeb, January 23, 2026)

Indonesian disaster officials have moved the region from immediate emergency response into phased recovery, with a major focus on temporary housing, reopening access routes, and restoring essential services—efforts that have included civilian agencies, local governments, community volunteers, and security forces. (Source – ANTARA English, January 7, 2026; ReliefWeb, January 23, 2026)

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency, BNPB has said thousands of temporary housing units have been processed or are underway in Aceh, including targets intended to allow displaced families to move into safer accommodation before Ramadan, while broader reconstruction planning continues. (Source – ANTARA English, January 16, 2026; MetroTVNews, January 25, 2026)

President Prabowo Subianto has publicly linked recovery planning to governance priorities and has visited disaster-hit areas in Aceh, including evacuation sites at mosques, as the government has urged agencies to accelerate assistance and rebuilding. (Source – Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia, December 12, 2025)

While the temporary mosque project in Tetingi has been presented by officials as a practical, community-led step, details such as the project’s funding sources, construction standards, and timelines have not been fully documented in the public reporting cited by state-linked outlets, and independent verification from local civil society monitors was limited in the available coverage. (Source – ANTARA, February 1, 2026)

Islamic and Ethical Context

In Muslim disaster recovery, rebuilding a mosque is not only about a physical structure; it is also about restoring communal stability—daily prayer, mutual support, and a reliable gathering point for families facing loss and uncertainty. The Quran’s emphasis on helping those in hardship offers a moral lens many communities use to prioritise relief, shelter, and dignity when rebuilding after crisis.

Accounts in Hadith Books about relieving distress and supporting neighbors are often invoked by faith leaders and community organisers to encourage “ground-level” solidarity—food distribution, cleaning homes, restoring water access—alongside official programmes. In Aceh, where Islamic life is deeply woven into public culture, such projects can carry added social weight as residents seek normalcy without losing accountability.

The Seerah also provides a historical reference point for how a community rebuilds around worship and social cohesion: early Muslim society, under the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him), treated shared spaces of prayer and consultation as part of strengthening resilience and order. In modern disaster settings, that legacy is often reflected in practical choices—restoring a place to pray, to organise mutual aid, and to reaffirm community bonds—while still insisting on transparency and fair distribution of assistance.