According to local folklore, it was built by a Syrian Arab trader and Sunni Sufi scholar named
Sheikh Karimul Makhdum in 1380. The architecture of the original mosque would likely have been the indigenous Moro
pagoda-style. Old wooden pillars have been found within the current mosque grounds. Some theorize that the wooden pillars were either the pillars of the original 1380 pagoda mosque, or a later old wooden mosque built centuries after the pagoda mosque was ruined. Scholarly studies from the
National Museum of the Philippines later confirmed that the pillars found within the present mosque date back to the 17th century. The four 17th-century pillars are regarded as sacred as they are at least 400 years old and are the oldest known Islamic artifacts in the entire Philippines. The current mosque building was constructed in the 1960s, after most of the prior structure was burned down in 1941 during the
Japanese occupation in
World War II. The architecture used for the current building was of the Arabic onion-dome style, and not the traditional sacred pagoda style of the Moro people. In recent years, some scholars, leaders, and locals have supported initiatives to rebuild the mosque following their traditional Moro pagoda-style. ==Cultural status==