[Travel] Delhi, Jama Masjid’s Reflecting the World Through its eyes

Today I’m going to explore the old Delhi. Mrs. Kamala give me the bus route to Red Fort from her home near Defence Colony Petrol Pump bus stop (no. 419, fee 15₹). From there, I cross the street and walk crossing to the Masjid-i Jahān-Numā (Persian/Urdu: مسجدِ جہاں نما, Devanagari: मस्जिद जहान नुमा), it means the “World-reflecting Mosque”, famously named Jama Masjid (Hindi: जामा मस्जिद, Urdu: جامع مسجد) from the word Jammah, Friday prayer.

The entrance of Jama Masjid. It’s free but I have to pay 410₹ since I’m carrying a camera, and including a ticket to climb the Minaret + muslim cover and sandals.

Etiquette: Dress politely and cover up, can’t use shoes inside so they provide sandals for a fee or go barefoot. The Mosque is closed during prayer time and even if we can wait inside, picture taking is prohibited.

Jama Masjid is one of the largest mosque in India, built by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan around mid-16 AD, made in a style of Mughal Architecture, the combination of Islamic, Turkish and Persian geometric and South Asian architecture. It is central inside the in Chandni Chowk market, Old Delhi, previously the old Mughal capital city, Shahjahanbad. The Arabic writing on top of the 10 arches or iwan (Persian: ایوان‎‎ eyvān, Arabic: إيوان‎‎ , Turkish: eyvan) tells the history of the mosque, the virtue of the great Emperor and his Kingdom.

The main arch entrance or pishtaq.

Jama Masjid corridors and yard can host at least 25.000 people praying. The entire complex is made from red sandstone and decorated white marble. The main building is built on the red sandstone 9 meters above the ground, as large as 1200 square meters, 80 meters width and 27 meters length and 27.5 meters in breadth and 41 meters in height.

A sehan or sahn (Arabic: صحن‎‎, ṣaḥn) or a courtyard with open sky central to a mosque’s architecture. In a large mosque like this, its function is for ritual cleansing pool or a howz (Persian: حوض‎‎) to perform ablutions or cleansing (Wuḍū, Arabic: الوضوء‎‎) before prayer. The pool has a patio for the people to rest or to cool off during a heated day.

The floor underneath the carpet is adorned with around 899 black ornament box like a Muslim prayer mat.

The traditional mihrab (Arabic: محراب‎‎ miḥrāb, pl. محاريب maḥārīb) or altar for the prayer facing the direction of the Qibla (قبلة‎) at Mecca (Arabic: مكة المكرمة Makkah al-Mukarramah).