Mosques

The place of Old Delhi is dominated by Muslim people. Of the entire population of Delhi, around 12% are Muslims. These are lots of historical places of worship for the Muslims in this area. Delhi is a place that is filled with diverse population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. When once visits the walled area of Old Delhi one can find the presence of a huge number of mosques and old shrines that are architecturally brilliant. An interesting point about Delhi is that the religious craze that is found in many other states is absent here. It is quite a secular city that is open to all religions.

The Jama Masjid is the most famous mosque in Delhi. It is the largest and one of the oldest mosques of India. There are also various other mosques in Delhi that have a rich cultural heritage and should be mandatorily visited during a visit to Delhi. These mosques serve the devotional needs of the large number of Muslims living in Old Delhi. You can refer the list below to have an idea about the list of famous mosques in and around Delhi.

Jama Masjid Delhi

Needless to say, this comes first, because it is an iconic mosque in Delhi. This is the largest mosque of India and has another name, “Masjid-i-Jahan-Numa” which literally can be translated as “seen by the entire world”. Red sandstone and white marble were predominantly used for constructing this mosque. This was constructed during Shah Jahan’srule and it was believed that the great Emperor worshipped here. Though the mosque looks quite simple from the outside, the insides are intricately designed in black stripes and it took 6 years of effort to build this structure. The mosque is built on a slightly high level to increase its visibility among all the areas.

Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya

This is a mosque where the shrines of the famous Sufi Saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, also known as Nizam-ud-Din, and his ardent disciple, Amir Khusrau. Due to the presence of the mosque, this area began to get occupied by people and today, this area itself is known as Hazrat Nizamuddin. It is considered to be very important sacred places of worship by the Muslims. This mosque was built by Emperor, Mohammed Bin Tughlaq. Once inside this shrine, devotees can also find the tombs of Shah Jahan’s daughter, Jahan Ara Begum and the famous Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib.

Chirag-I-Delhi Dargah

This is a mosque that is found in the Chirag Delhi locality. The areas in and around the mosque started developing in a phased manner in terms of population and living conditions, due to the presence of the mosque. Here one can find the tomb of one of the disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin, Nasir-ud-Din-Mohammed, who also became the leader of the Chishti community after Hazrat Nizammudin. Nasir-ud-din Mohammed was also known as Raushan Chirag-i-Dilli, which could be translated as the “the bright lamp of Delhi”. All the four corners of the mosque contain towers with small domes and around this, one can find covering of plastered dome that comes from the drum that is in the shape of an octagon.

Moth Ki Masjid

The name of this mosque means, “Mosque made from lentil”. Built during the rule of Sikander Lodhi around 5 centuries ago, this mosque is now in a dilapidated condition. Legend has it that Sikander Lodhi gave his minister, Wazir Miya Bhoiya a grain of lentil as reward. The minister sowed these seeds on a stretch of land and watered it regularly. Over the years, the plants had grown to such an extent where the grains that they generated could be sold for a huge sum of money that was enough for constructing a mosque.