A three-person Public Works Department team led by Baharuddin Abu Kassim, with Ikmal Hisham Albakri and Howard Ashley, designed the mosque. Antony Morris was the engineer in charge. The idea was raised at a Federal Executive Council meeting in July 1957. The first foundation stone was laid on February 27, 1963, and Tuanku Syed Putra of Perlis opened it on August 27, 1965. It cost 10 million ringgit.
The article describes a bold, modern approach in reinforced concrete. The main roof is a 16-pointed star of folded plates that resembles an open umbrella, and the minaret cap resembles a folded one. The roof was originally pink and is now clad in green and blue tiles.
The minaret is 240 feet (73 m) high. The mosque holds 15,000 people on 13 acres of grounds with reflecting pools and fountains. It was Malaysia's largest until 1988.
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