The mosque is believed to have been founded in 1803 on a site granted by the East India Company during George Leith’s term as Lieutenant-Governor of Penang. Rebuilt on 1958. Urdu was probably the principal language used in this mosque although in certain periods the dwindling Urdu-speaking population was overshadowed by an increase in Tamil worshippers. Today, the Masjid Bengali has become a base for the Tablighi movement, and the main languages used here are Malay and Tamil.