By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Today is Friday and about 200 people from the surrounding areas have come to offer Juma Prayer at this 16th century Jamali-Kamali Mosque, 300 metre south of Qutub Minar in New Delhi’s Mehrauli area. They have been offering prayer here for the last six weeks ignoring the instructions of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and about a dozen cases filed with the police by ASI against some namazis when they tried to offer namaz.
People say they were forced to establish namaz in the mosque as ASI, a Government of India body authorized to protect historical places and monuments in the country, failed to protect the sanctity of the mosque. The ASI-hired gatekeeper of the mosque was allowing couples in the mosque, alleges Haji Rous Mohammad, Delhi Wakf Board appointed caretaker of nearby Dargah Ashiq Allah.
“When I got information that the sanctity of the mosque was being destroyed I took a few persons and came to the mosque and found a couple in compromising position within the mosque. We took control of the mosque, cleaned it and called azan. Immediately the police came. We convinced them that this is a mosque and we are offering prayers, we are not building or destroying anything inside the mosque.”
According to a 1958 law concerning protected monuments, religious activity inside a protected monument is not allowed. That is why, it is said, after Independence attempts to offer prayer in the long deserted mosque were not successful. Armed with the rule, the ASI authorities have filed several complaints against the locals who have defied the rule and offered prayer in the last week of March 2009, first time after Independence. The mosque was given in the control of ASI on February 8, 1915.
The locals have appointed an imam and a muezzin. Besides Juma Prayer, they are able to offer prayer only four times in a day. They do not offer Fajr as the government gatekeeper of the mosque comes at 10 am.
Since the news spread about the establishment of namaz in the ASI-protected mosque people are coming from surrounding areas. Muhammad Hussain, an auto mechanic and Mehrauli resident, is offering prayer since the day one (March 27, 2009). Muhammad Irfan, marble contractor, comes from Dakshinpuri, about 10 km from the mosque, to offer Juma Prayer. This is his sixth Friday here.
The foundation of the Jamali-Kamali Mosque was laid in 1528 during first Mughal Emperor Babar’s reign but was completed in 1535, during his son Humayun’s period. The mosque got its name from Shaikh Fazlullah, a saint and poet whose pen name was Jamali. His tomb is adjacent to the mosque. There are two graves in the tomb – one believed to be of Jamali and other of Kamali, an unknown person. Shaikh Fazlullah also known as Jalal Khan lived from Sikandar Lodhi’s reign to Humayun’s.
The mosque is located inside the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, adjacent to the campus of Qutub Minar. The park has 72 monuments including Quli Khan’s Tomb, Balban’s Tomb and several tombs of the Mughal and Lodhi periods.