Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad)

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Mecca Masjid is the oldest and the biggest of the mosques situated in Hyderabad city. About 10,000 people can offer prayers in this mosque at a time. It is said that Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah began the construction of the Masjid in 1617 but the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb completed the construction in 1694. The Mecca Masjid of Hyderabad is located just 100 yards away from the famous and historic Charminar.

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The name of the mosque has an interesting short story behind it. It is believed that some bricks were brought from Mecca and inserted in the walls of its main arch. Hence it came to be known as Mecca Masjid. There are fifteen arches that support the hall of the mosque. Three walls of the great hall have five arches each. This huge hall is 75 feet high, 220 feet wide and 180 feet long. No wonder it can accommodate about 10,000 people at a time during worship. It is said that about 8000 workers had been employed to construct this grand mosque. The mosque took 77 years to be completed.

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Innumerable sermons from the Quran (the holy book of Muslims) have been intricately depicted on the arches of the Mecca Masjid. You can have a quiet and serene moment with yourself near the man made pond, which has soothing blue water. There are seating arrangements at the edges of the pond and it is believed that if a visitor sits on it, the person will surely visit Hyderabad again. There is a room in the courtyard of the mosque that stores ancient and holy relics. It is believed to contain the hair of Prophet Mohammed.

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Kabuli Bagh Mosque Panipat ( New Delhi )

Kabuli Bagh Mosque, built in 1526, is an impressive structure located at Panipat, a historical town situated on the banks of the Yamuna. Panipat is about 92 km north of New Delhi.

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Panipat, the battle city is also a famous and interesting place in the pages of history. Without any surprise, just two kilometers away from this city exists the Kabuli Bagh Mosque. The then Muslim Ruler Babur had built it and named it after his wife Kabuli Begum. Babur constructed this mosque in order to commemorate his victory over Ibrahim Lodhi. After six years, Humayun defeated Salim Shah and got a platform called Chabutara Fateh Mubarak made around the mosque. It bears an inscription dating back to 1527 AD.

Babur erected this mosque after the first battle of Panipat to commemorate victory over Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. The mosque is housed inside an enclosure having octagonal towers at its corners. The building has its entry on the north, which is made of bricks with red sandstone facing. The entrance has a lintel bracket-type opening encased in a huge arch. The spandrels are decorated with arched recesses covered in rectangular panels.

The main prayer hall of the mosque has annexes on sides, which are crowned with hemispherical domes sitting on low drums. Its high facade, divided in panels, is plastered with lime. A masonry platform, the Chabutra-I-Fateh Mubarak, constructed by Humayun (the eldest son of Babur), bears an inscription dating back to 1527.

There are chambers on two sides of the mosque. In addition to this, there is also an inscription in Persian that runs along the parapet. The main prayer hall is square and has annexes on sides. Its high facade is divided in panels and plastered with lime. Each annex constitutes of nine bays. These bays are crowned with hemispherical domes sitting on low drums. The age and climate ravage the structure to an extent. Kabuli Bagh Mosque is now protected as a heritage building.

Jama Masjid (Delhi)

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The Jama Masjid, the Friday congregational mosque, in Delhi is the largest and glorious mosque in India. It was the last architectural extravaganza of the Mughal Emperor, Shahjahan built in the year 1656 AD with the help of 5,000 craftsmen. It was made across the road from the Red Fort. The mosque is also known as Masjid-I-Jahanuma, which means ‘mosque commanding view of the world’. The measurement of the mosque is 65 m X 35 m while the courtyard is forms an area of 100 n square. The mosque has the capacity to hold as many as 25,000 devotees. The Lal Qila or the Red Fort stand towards the east of the mosque.

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The Jama Masjid was designed as the main mosque of Shahjahan, designed by Ostad Khalil, A brilliant Mughal Architecturer. It stands on one of the two hills, Bho Jhala in the Mughal capital, Shahjahanabad. The mosque has three gateways, four towers and two minarets. It is constructed with alternate use of vertical strips of red sandstone and white marble. The white marble has been used extensively in the three domes and has been inlaid with stripes of black. The structure was situated on a high platform so that its magnificent facade would be visible from all the neighboring areas. The main prayer hall on the west is decorated by a series of high cusped arches, which stand on 260 pillars. These pillars support 15 marble domes at various elevations. The imposing gateways are approached through a broad flight of steps in the north and the south. The hallmarks of this famous mosque are the wide staircases and arched gateways.

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The tower is made up of five distinguished storeys, each pronounced by a protruding balcony. Beautiful calligraphy embellishes its adjacent buildings. The first three storeys of the tower are made of red sandstone, the fourth one, while the fifth is again of sandstone. The closet in the North gate of the mosque contains a collection of Muhammad’s relics – the Quran written on deerskin, a red beard-hair of the prophet, his sandals and his footprint, embedded in a marble slab, all of which are still preserved.

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The premises of the south minaret are 1076 sq ft wide where the people assemble for the namaaz. The cost for building the mosque was approximately Rupees 10 crores. It was the replica of the Moti Masjid at Red Fort in Agra. It is said that the walls of the mosque were tilted at a certain angle so that at the time of an earthquake, the walls do not collapse in the courtyard but outwards. The Jama Masjid combines the best of he Hindu and Islamic styles of architecture. The main entrance on the eastern side was probably used by the emperors. It remains close on the weekdays.