![]() ![]() Jami Masjid also has various outdoor initiatives to help individuals achieve a wholesome and spiritually balanced well-being. In the blessed month of Ramadan, an intensive program is offered to help community members maximize their time as they strive towards building a stronger connection with Allah ﷻ, His Prophet ﷺ, and the Quran. Further, spiritual retreats and workshops are also offered throughout the year to foster a love for Allah ﷻ and His Prophet ﷺ, and are specifically adapted to the needs of the community. Monthly, Jami Masjid hosts a special recitation of Imam Busiri’s “Poem of the Cloak” (Qasida Burdah), which is a gathering of praises and remembrance of our Beloved Prophet ﷺ. In addition to offering the five daily prayers in congregation, a variety of sacred knowledge classes are held daily, including a book reading with commentary (taleem), remembrance of Allah (dhikr), and recitation of the Quran and litanies. Most notably, sacred knowledge and practices at Jami Masjid are taken from an unbroken link to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The portico of the Jama Masjid is what differentiates it from other mosques in India, with its crop of pillars dividing the space into 15 bays and transforming the place into a playground of light and shadows.Jami Masjid is built upon the foundation of seeking sacred knowledge and gathering (literally, Jami means to gather) for the sake of remembering Allah ﷻ in accordance with the ways (sunnah) of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. ![]() Within the sanctuary of the mosque, the qibla (the prayer wall) is also decorated with intricately carved screens. ![]() The mosque is three-storied with balconies on the upper levels guarded from view by jalis. There are 15 domes on the roof of the mosque, some of them carved like lotus flowers and displaying a Hindu aesthetic, much like the design of the hundreds of pillars shouldering the roof. The courtyard is colonnaded on three sides, with Arabic calligraphy in black adorning the walls, while the main prayer hall brings up the fourth side. The mosque complex includes a vast paved courtyard with a large rectangular ablution tank positioned at its center. The city flourished during his reign, the marks of its prosperity evident in the stunning architecture dotting its landscape.īuilt of yellow sandstone, the Jama Masjid appears burnished with the gold of hundreds of Indian summers. He created the city of Ahmedabad in 1411 to serve as his new capital. Ahmad Shah I, formerly a deputy administrator for the Tughlaqs of the Delhi Sultanate, declared himself independent and established the Gujarat Sultanate along the west coast of India. Located in the heart of the old walled city of Ahmedabad, the Jama Masjid was an integral part of Sultan Ahmad Shah’s grand vision of establishing a new city by the river Sabarmati. Interestingly, this practice led to the development of an unconventional architectural idiom in Ahmedabad, with mosques and tombs of that period embellished with elements of Hindu temple architecture. During the period of the Gujarat Sultanate, Hindu temples were often dismantled and their architectural elements adapted into the construction of new mosques. The tasteful blend of diverse architectural traditions characteristic of the mosque is perhaps most visible in the design of its immense main prayer hall with 260 columns, curiously reminiscent of the interiors of a Hindu temple. The mosque is also decorated with ornate jalis (latticed screens) carved in geometric and floral patterns (albeit not nearly as impressive as the ones in the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque). The designs carved on the columns are suggestive of elements of Hindu temple architecture. These exquisitely carved columns, remnants of the minarets, are one of the most striking features of the mosque. Completed in 1424, the mosque displays an elegant fusion of Islamic, Hindu and Jain architectural elements and is unlike any other mosque in the Indian subcontinent.Īlthough the two principal minarets flanking the arched central entrance to the mosque collapsed in the earthquake of 1819, their lower portions survived. Nearly 600 years after it was built, the Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, still stands unrivaled for its unique synthesis of diverse architectural traditions. ![]()
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