At the Khirki Mosque, Friday. (Express Photo/Amit Mehra)
With three guards stationed outside the 14th Century monument clueless, the word ‘masjid’ repeatedly being removed from a board outside Khirki Mosque has become a mystery for authorities. The Indian Express visited the monument on Friday — and discovered that on the blue board put up by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) outside the monument, the word ‘masjid’ had been painted over in white.
One of the guards, stationed outside since 2008, said, “The first time this happened was a year-and-a-half ago… We told an ASI official and we were asked to rewrite ‘masjid’. The next day, it was smudged again… Some locals are convinced this is a fort built by Maharana Pratap.” The mosque is in news since it finds itself at the centre of a rising demand for namaz to be allowed there. “It is a very sensitive matter and we had no idea about this. Maybe the ASI in-charge didn’t inform senior officials. This has not been done by the ASI, but by some miscreants. We will get it rectified soon,” said a source at the Delhi Circle of ASI. As per the Gazette of India 1915, the ASI was notified to “protect the Khirki Masjid”.
The Khirki Mosque is located near the cluster of Saket malls and surrounded by high-rises (Express Photo/Amit Mehra)
Located near the cluster of Saket malls and surrounded by high-rises, the mosque was built by Malik Maqbul, who was the Prime Minister of the Delhi Sultanate during Feroz Shah Tughlaq’s reign in the 14th Century. The mosque, however, doesn’t have a “cultural text” board to inform visitors about its history. “We will put one when restoration begins. The tender is in the works,” said an ASI official.
Till then, the sprawling monument is a victim of an identity crisis. “This is not a mosque no matter what officials say… I have grown up in Khirki village; this is a fort built by Maharana Pratap. The other community wants to claim it as theirs so they say it’s a mosque,” said resident Vijay Kumar (42). In April, the Delhi High Court had left it to the Centre to decide if namaz should be offered there — after a lawyer filed a PIL which sought permission “due to lack of other places near the Saket Court Complex to offer namaz”.
The mosque was built by Malik Maqbul, who was the Prime Minister of the Delhi Sultanate during Feroz Shah Tughlaq’s reign in the 14th Century. (Express Photo/Amit Mehra)
But an ASI official claimed: “This is a ‘non-living monument’, which means it’s not meant for the offering of prayers.” Meanwhile, Darya Ganj resident Mohd Ajmal Khan (73), who claims to be a “direct descendant of the man who commissioned the mosque”, visited the structure on Friday and said, “My ancestors built this… it’s a mosque meant for prayers. I will file a writ petition in court.”