Jama Masjid

“ The buildings of interest in the town are a palace, built by Akbar, called the Lal Kila or the Red Fort, and the Jama Masjid or Great Mosque, built by Ali Khan, one of the Farukhi dynasty, in 1588. A considerable number of Boras, a class of commercial Mahommedans, reside here. ”

“ Next, and a good deal nearer, appears the yellow dome of St. James's Church, close to the Cashmere Gate. Nearer still, are the red walls of Maiden's Hotel, almost in a line with the domes and minarets of the Jama Masjid, and the towers of the railway station show just above the trees. Then, to the right, a peculiar building, with a square tank on the top and a chimney close by, marks the corner of the city near the Mori Bastion. Further on, tall chimneys indicate the suburbs of Kishanganj and the Sabzimandi, while the red Mutiny Memorial marks the point of the Ridge. ”

“ The upper portion of the dome is very thin, so that there is little weight and comparatively no thrust, and it is to these facts that we probably owe their preservation.
In India, in the “great mosque” of Jama Masjid (A.D. 1560) and the Gol Gumbaz, or tomb of Mahommed Adil Shah (A.D. 1630) at Bijapur, the domes are carried on pendentives consisting of arches crossing one another and projecting inwards, and their weight counteracts any thrust there may be in the dome. ”

“ The great enclosure outside the platform is not paved; it is covered with grass and planted with olives and cypresses. Only the platform is fairly level, and its flagging in parts is covered with Crusading masons’-marks. There is, as above noticed, only one mosque in the enclosure—the great building on the south wall. The whole area is called Haram esh Sherîf, “High Sanctuary,” and Masjid el Haram, “Praying-place of Sanctuary;” also sometimes Masjid el Aksa, “the far-off praying-place,” in allusion to its distance from Mecca and to the Prophet’s long night journey. ”

“ A prince in whose reign and under whose direct superintendence was fostered the style of architecture which produced that little Mouti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) which we saw a moment ago—not to speak of the Jammah Masjid of Delhi which we saw there, or of the Taj which we are now going to see—must have been a spacious-souled man, with frank and pure elevations of temper within him, like that exquisite white marble superstructure of the Mouti Masjid which rises from a terrace of rose, as if the glow of crude passion had thus lifted itself into the pure white of tried virtue. ”

“ The Masjid Benu Zafar (some write the word Tifr) is also called Masjid al-Baghlah�of the She-mule,�because, according to Al-Matari, on the ridge of stone to the south of this Mosque are the marks where the Prophet leaned his arm, and where the she-mule, Duldul, sent by the Mukaukas as a present with Mariyah the Coptic girl and Yafur the donkey, placed its hoofs. At the Mosque was shown a slab upon which the Prophet sat hearing recitations from the Koran; and historians declare that by following his example many women have been blessed with offspring. ”

“ Immediately at the angle of the first fork are the ruins of a masjid. This masjid is built of brick and mortar; stone is also used, but the stone is evidently taken from some Hindu structure. It was once a fine masjid; it stands at one end of a court-yard which was once surrounded by cloisters, the cells having each a small domed roof. The masjid itself is roofed by numerous small domes. Vaults exist underneath. ”

“ The Jám‘i el Aksa, Jám‘i el Magháribeh, &c., are mosques in our sense of the word, but the entire Haram is a masjid. This will explain what is meant by saying that ‘Omar, after visiting the churches of the Anastasis, Sion, &c., was taken to the “Masjid” of Jerusalem; and will account for the statement of Ibn el ‘Asa’kir and others, that the Masjid el Aksa measured over six hundred cubits in length—that is, the length of the whole Haram area. ”

“ It differs from most mosques in that its exterior is more magnificent than its interior. The two minarets are each about 130 feet high. The year A.H. 1060 corresponds to A.D. 1650. The mosque was begun in that year, and finished six years later. It is close to the palace, and seems to have been designed to serve as the mosque for the palace, as well as the city, for which reason no place of worship was included in his residence by Shāh Jahān. The pretty little Motī Masjid in the private apartments was added by Aurangzēb. Fergusson (ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 319) gives a view of the mosque. ”

“ The masjid described above is very picturesque ( notwithstanding the flatness of its façade) from its position on the edge of the river at such a height as to be a commanding object. The glare of its glazed tiles has been softened down by the hands of time and weather, and presents no harsh contrasts and gaudy colours to offend the eye; the white clean interior seen through the archways contrasts in a pleasing way with the dark time-soiled exterior.
The revetments which confine the river are built of brick and rubble-stone very solidly, and sloping up in the usual way ”

“ The interior of the mosque is paved throughout, and the walls and roof are lined, with white marble. Two other mosques in Delhi itself deserve passing notice, the Kala Masjid or Black Mosque, which was built about 1380 in the reign of Feroz Shah, and the Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque, a tiny building added to the palace by Aurangzeb, as the emperor’s private place of prayer. It is only 60 ft. square, and the domes alone are seen above the red sandstone walls until the opening of two small fine brass gates. ”

“ The revetments are very strong and massive, and rise to a great height, as the site on which the masjid is built is comparatively very high. These revetments run on, with various but unimportant interruptions, a long distance, right away to the great revetments and towers of the citadel or kila at the end of the city, the ruins of which still frown over the river below in shattered majesty. ”

“ Among the not very remarkable mosques—to some of which madrasahs, or colleges, are attached—may be specially mentioned the Masjid-i-Shah, or king’s mosque, with its handsome enamelled front, and the Masjid-i-Mádar-i-Shah, or mosque of the king’s mother. ”

“ The beauty of the Motī Masjid, like that of most mosques, is all internal. The exterior is ugly. The interior deserves all praise. Fergusson describes this mosque as 'one of the purest and most elegant buildings of its class to be found anywhere', and truly observes that 'the moment you enter by the eastern gateway the effect of its courtyard is surpassingly beautiful'. ”

“ But the Mosque — that blossom of Oriental architecture, with its crowning domes, like the inverted bells of the lotus, and its reed-like minarets, its fountains and marble courts — can only perish with the faith it typifies. I, for one, rejoice that, so long as the religion of Islam exists (and yet, may its time be short!) , no Christian model can shape its houses of worship. The minaret must still lift its airy tower for the muezzin; the dome must rise like a gilded heaven above the prayers of the Faithful, with its starry lamps and emblazoned phrases ”

“ And this dome, rising to about 175 ft. from the floor, roofs over an area 130 ft. square, or 2500 sq. ft. larger than the Pantheon at Rome, where stability is secured only by throwing a great mass of masonry on the haunches. The Jami masjid, begun by Alī Adil Shāh, 1567, but never quite completed, is one of the finest mosques in India. The central area of the mosque proper is covered by a large dome, supported in the same way as that on Mahommed Shāh’s tomb. This dome, like all the earlier ones in India, perhaps wants in outside elevation ”

“ The masjid is entirely of brick. It occupies the centre of the west end of a large court-yard which once had long and magnificent ranges of cloisters on the other three sides, and the remainder of the west side not taken up by the masjid proper. This great court-yard had two gates to the east and south.
The cloisters have long ago disappeared, all except a fragment at the north-east corner, from which it appears that the last corner towers were surmounted by flattish round domes ”

“ One of them is a rich foundation of the same nature as the Jama-el-Azher, which it is said maintains five or six hundred poor shechs, many of whom are blind or paralytic. The other is an old and famous mosque, which has been raised, as is said, on the ruins of a Christian church, part of which is reported to exist under the building. Even the mosque itself is now deserted, and in a great measure fallen to ruin; the door which leads to the passage below is bricked up, so that I could make no observations on that part. The mosque is spacious, and contains a great number of marble columns. ”

“ The general appearance of the masjid is plain, and its style is not such as to make it imposing, despite its excessive plainness. The masjid is built entirely of brick faced with plaster, and devoutly whitewashed every year. I have thus described it in detail, as it is traditionally and probably actually the oldest masjid in Patna. ”

“ There is no congregation comprising those who worship in a particular mosque. Nor have the imams and khatibs any jurisdiction, like that of a Catholic pastor, over those who assemble in the mosque for prayer. Worship in the mosque may be called congregational only in so far as certain individuals, who happen to gather there, unite in prayer to Allah under the direction of the imam, but it is nevertheless individual, as no Moslem has closer affiliations with one mosque than with another. ”

“ The side walls of the masjid are prolonged to enclose this court-yard, and a small narrow entrance in the east face of this wall leads through a small chamber to a still narrower and smaller entrance which gives access to the court-yard and masjid. The entrances are so small, especially the inner one, that one has almost to creep in on all-fours. ”

“ The other mosques have none of this undefined charm, being simply large, bare, whitewashed buildings, with, in the case of the great mosque, some fine old columns and a very pretty fountain in the court with a tree shadowing it, and bright tiles as decoration. There is also a tiny mosque in the old town, which is always full of women praying for babies. It is the tomb of another saint, and so small that the best way to see it is to stoop and look in through a window and watch the women, who are not so absorbed in prayer as to prevent their smiling and returning the gaze with interest. ”

“ By day or night alike it makes an impression on the mind that time can never obliterate. Shah Jahan erected the Jami Masjid mosque at Delhi, and the costly Muti Masjid mosque in Agra Fort, as well as the splendid Khas Mahal, the Diwan-i-ain, and the Diwan-i-khas, likewise in the fort—but more satisfying art is represented in the Taj than in all the other structures of his reign. ”

“ The great mosque of Delhi is called the Jumma Musjid, or Friday Mosque. The arrangement is the same in all Mohammedan temples large and small. A quadrangle open to the sky, a fountain flowing into a square, shallow tank, in the center, for the ablutions of the faithful, a colonnade on three sides with open arches, and on the west, facing Mecca, stands a building surmounted with domes, open in front, and destitute of everything approaching a symbol. Pure monotheism is here—the worship of the invisible deity. ”

“ The wall enclosing the mosque occupies more than half the eastern side of the city—in the centre of which stands the mosque, an octagonal building, pierced with seven windows on each side, narrowing above into a small circle also pierced with windows, and surmounted by a most graceful dome, bearing aloft the gilt crescent of Islam; the whole building is cased entirely in encaustic tiles—chiefly blue, green, purple, and yellow, formed into intricate and delicate arabesques, and so mingled that it is impossible to say whether the building is green or blue. ”

“ The religious architecture of Islam, as far as its symbolism is concerned, is a thing that will never be understood by the Christian. A mosque to most people is simply a public monument, a thing of domes and minarets and many columns. The winter bird of passage at Cairo thinks it a great inconvenience that he should be made to put on a pair of babouches over his shoes in order to enter, forgetting that it is a Holy Place and that one of the tenets of the Mussulman religion forbids walking rough-shod over the rugs and carpets of a place of worship. ”

“ To turn from business to religion, as it is now perhaps midday or sunset, we hear from the minaret of a neighboring mosque the muezzin calling the hour of prayer; and putting off our shoes, with sandaled or slippered feet, we enter the holy place. At the vestibule are fountains, at which the Moslems are washing their hands and feet before they go in to pray. We lift the heavy curtain which covers the door, and enter. One glance shows that we are not in a Christian church, either Catholic or Protestant. There is no cross and no altar; no Lord's Prayer, no Creed, and no Ten Commandments. ”

“ The well-built and neatly-kept mosque, with its call to prayer repeated five times a day, its Mecca-pointing niche, its Imām and its weekly service, becomes the centre of the village, instead of the ghastly fetish or Juju house. The worship of one God, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and compassionate, is an immeasurable advance upon anything which the native has been taught to worship before. ”