Jama Masjid

Jama Masjid of Delhi, is the principal mosque of Old Delhi in India. It is an important monument for the muslims in India and also abroad. Visitors from all over the world visit Jama Masjid daily in huge numbers. Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, and completed in the year 1656 AD, it is the largest and best-known mosque in India. It lies at the origin of a very busy central street of Old Delhi, Chandni Chowk. The later name, Jami Masjid, is a reference to the weekly Friday noon congregation prayers of Muslims, Jummah, which are usually done at a mosque. The courtyard of the mosque can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers ata time. The mosque also houses several relics in a closet in the north gate, including an antique copy of the Qur’an written on deer skin.

The mosque stands on a platform of about five feet (1.5 m) from the pavement of the terrace. The floor of the mosque is covered with white and black marble ornamented to imitate the Muslim prayer mat; a thin black marble border is marked for the worshippers, which is three feet long and 1 ½ feet wide. In total there are 899 such spaces marked in the floor of the mosque.

On April 14, 2006, two explosions occurred within Jamia Masjid which elictrified the whole Delhi and India. The first explosion came at around 17:26 and the second around seven minutes later at around 17:33 (IST) . It was reported that thirteen people were injured in the blasts. There were around 1000 people in the mosque at the time of blasts as the day happened to be Friday, a Muslim holy day, Jummah. It was also the first Friday after Milad un Nabi, Islamic prophet Muhammad’s birthday. According to official spokesmen, there was no damage to the mosque itself which is a positive point in retaining the beauty of the mosque.

The foundation of the historic Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque) was laid on a hillock in Shahjahanabad by fifth Mughal Emperor of India, Shahjahan, on Friday the October 6, 1650 AD, (10th Shawwal 1060 AH).

About 5,000 workers had shown their great efforts in Beautifying the mosque for over a period of six years. The cost incurred on the construction in those times was 10 lakh (1 million) Rupees. It was the same Emperor who also built the Taj Mahal, at Agra and the Red Fort, which stands across the Jama Masjid, which was finally ready in 1656 AD (1066 AH). Masjid was completed with three great gates, four towers and two 40 m-high minarets constructed of strips of red sandstone and white marble.

Shah Jahan was known as the great architect at that time and had built several important mosques in Delhi, Agra, Ajmer and Lahore. The Jama Masjid’s floorplan is very similar to the Jama Masjid, Fatehpur Sikri near Agra, but the Jamia Masjid is the bigger and more imposing of the two. Its majesty and beauty is further enhanced because of the high ground that he selected for building this mosque. It is also seen that the architecture and design of the slightly larger Badshahi Mosque of Lahore built by Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb in 1673 is closely related to the Jamia Masjid in Delhi.

The courtyard of the mosque can be reached from the east, north and south by three flights of steps, all built of red sandstone. The northern gate of the mosque has 39 steps. The southern side of the mosque has 33 steps. The eastern gate of the mosque was considered as the royal entrance and it has 35 steps. These steps are used to house food stalls, shops and street entertainers which develops their living. In the evening, the eastern side of the mosque used to be converted into a bazaar for poultry and birds in general. Prior to the 1857 War of Indian Independence, there was a madrassah near the southern side of the mosque, which was pulled down after the mutiny.

The mosque is about 261 feet (80 m) long and 90 feet (27 m) wide, and its roof is covered with three domes with alternate stripes of black and white marble. Its top most part is covered with gold. On the back of the mosque, there are four small minarets crowned like those in the front. These inscriptions give the history of the building of the mosque, and glorify the reign and virtues of Shah Jahan.

More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jama_Masjid,_Delhi

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Tags: Chandni Chowk, INDIA, Jami Masjid, Monuments, Old Delhi