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The Masjid-i Jahan-Namaa, commonly known as
the Jama Masjid of Delhi, is the principal mosque
of Old Delhi in India and the largest mosque
in Asia. Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor
Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, and completed
in the year 1656 AD, it is one of the largest
and best-known mosques in India. It is also
at the beginning of a very busy and popular
street/center in Old Delhi, Chandni Chowk. The
later name, Jaama Masjid is a reference to the
weekly Friday noon congregation prayers required
from the Muslims to do in congregation, usually
at a mosque, which then takes up the popular
name of "congregational mosque" or
jaama masjid. The courtyard of the mosque can
hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers.
The mosque also houses several relics in a closet
in the north gate, including a copy of the Qur'an
written on deer skin.
The courtyard of the mosque can be reached
from the east, north and south by three flights
of steps, all built of red sandstone. The northern
gate of the mosque has 39 steps. The southern
side of the mosque has 33 steps. The eastern
gate of the mosque was the royal entrance and
it has 35 steps. These steps used to house food
stalls, shops and street entertainers. In the
evening, the eastern side of the mosque used
to be converted into a bazaar for poultry and
birds in general. Prior to the 1857 War of Indian
Independence, there was a madrassah near the
southern side of the mosque, which was pulled
down after the mutiny.
The mosque faces west. Its three sides are
covered with open arched colonnades, each having
a lofty tower-like gateway in the centre. The
mosque is about 261 feet (80 m) long and 90
feet (27 m) wide, and its roof is covered with
three domes with alternate stripes of black
and white marble, with its topmost parts covered
with gold. Two lofty minarets, 130 feet (41
m) high, and containing 130 steps, longitudinally
striped with white marble and red sandstone,
flank the domes on either side. The minarets
are divided by three projecting galleries and
are surmounted by open twelve-sided domed pavilions.
On the back of the mosque, there are four small
minarets crowned like those in the front.
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