The mosque is located beside the Royal Mausoleum on Jalan Istana at Bukit Chandan in Kuala Kangsar.

The mosque was built during the reign of the 28th Sultan of Perak Idris Shah I, who commissioned its construction as thanksgiving for his recovery from an illness that plagued him in his later years.

[1] The construction of the mosque was interrupted several times, once when two elephants belonging to the sultan and Raja Chulan fought, ran over and damaged the Italian marble tiles.

[2] The mosque was finally completed in late 1917 at a total cost of $24,000 or RM200,000 – a considerable sum at that time.

Italian marble was used to add bands of darker colour to the white building.