JAMA MASJID

Mughal emperor Shah Jahan decided to shift his capital from Agra to Delhi and founded the walled city of Shahajahanabad in April, 1649. It remained the capital of the Mughals succeeding him and evolved to what we now know as Old Delhi. The Jama Masjid (Arabic for “Friday mosque”) was commissioned to be the central mosque of the new city. Built between 1650 and 1656 by more than 5000 artisans under the supervision of Wazir Saadullah Khan, the mosque designed by architect Ustad Khalil, took 6 years to be completed. The mosque was inaugurated by Sayed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari, a mullah from Bukhara (now Uzbekistan), on 23 July 1656, on the invitation from Shah Jahan, whom he gave the title of Shahi Imam and appointed to the high office of Imamat-e-Uzma. The cost to build the mosque came to a whopping 1 million rupees at that time. The mosque houses several relics of Islamic religious significance like an age old transcript of the Quran printed on deer skin, the footmarks, sandals, and a red beard-hair of the Holy Prophet Mohammad.

The mosque was completed in 1656 AD with three great gates and two 40 metres high minarets constructed with strips of red sandstone and white marble. The courtyard can accommodate more than 25000 people. There are three domes on the terrace which are surrounded by the two minarets. On the floor, a total of 899 black borders are marked for worshippers. The architectural plan of Badshahi Masjid, built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb at Lahore is similar to the Jama Masjid.

After the British victory in the Revolt of 1857, they confiscated the mosque and stationed their soldiers there. They also wanted to destroy the mosque as an act of punishment to the city. But due to opposition faced, the demolition was not done. 

The iconic mosque is one of the last monuments built under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. After the construction of the monument in 1656, it remained the royal mosque of the emperors until the end of the Mughal period.

The courtyard can accommodate 25,000 worshippers. The mosque is about 261 feet (80 m) long and 90 feet (27 m) wide. The prayer hall measures 61 metres in length and 27.5 metres in breadth.  It is made up of high cusped arches and marble domes. The cabinet located in the north gate has a collection of relics of Muhammad – the Quran written on deerskin, a red beard-hair of the prophet, his sandals and his footprints embedded in a marble block. The floor plan of the mosque is similar to that of the Jama Masjid of Agra.  It is covered with white and black ornamented marble to look like a Muslim prayer mat. Beside it, a thin black border measuring 3 feet (0.91 m) long and 1.5 feet (0.46 m) wide is marked for the Muslim worshippers. There are 899 total such boxes. The architecture and plan of Badshahi Masjid, which was built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb in Lahore, is closely related to that of the mosque. Before the Revolt of 1857 there was a madrasa near the southern end of the mosque, which was destroyed during the revolt.

The mosque is considered as the best among all mosques built during the Mughal Empire as it has the best mixture of marble and limestone. The mosque has three great gates, four towers and two 40-metre tall minarets constructed of strips of red sandstone and smooth white marble. The northern gate has 39 steps and the southern side has 33 steps. The eastern gate was the royal entrance and has 35 steps.  Out of all these gateways, the eastern one, which was used by the emperors, remains closed during weekdays.  The mosque is built on a red sandstone porch, which is about 30 feet (9.1 m) from ground level and spreads over 1200 square metres.  The dome is flanked by two lofty minarets which are 130 feet (40 m) high and consists of 130 steps, longitudinally striped with marble and red sandstone. The minarets consist of five storeys, each with a protruding balcony. The adjoining edifices are filled with calligraphy. The first three storeys of the minarets are made of red sandstone, the fourth of marble and the fifth of sandstone.

During 1948, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Asaf Jah VII was asked for a donation of ₹75,000 to repair one-fourth of the mosque floor. The Nizam instead sanctioned ₹3 lakh, stating that the remaining three-fourths of the mosque should not look old. The water tank was enlarged during that opportunity.