Mosques around the world
Issue 99 December 2012
In 1932, Rais Ghazi Muhammad Indhar, a wealthy landlord in the town of Bhong, commissioned the construction of a mosque.
In 1932, Rais Ghazi Muhammad Indhar, a wealthy landlord in the town of Bhong, commissioned the construction of a mosque. This project went on for fifty years and during this time Rais Ghazi brought in master craftsmen from all over Pakistan and India. This included master masons from Rajisthan; craftsmen from Multan for the tiles, mosaics and woodwork; and painters and calligraphers from Karachi. Materials for the construction included teak, marble, coloured glass, onyx, ceramics, artificial stone facing and wrought iron. It is said that Rais Ghazi wanted to represent as many forms of popular craft and as many Islamic architectural features as possible. He also set up workshops to train craftsmen in the skills that were being utilised in the construction of the mosque.
The mosque is known for its glowing and vibrant surface, and every square metre of the building has some decoration or design upon it. As well as two prayer halls and a library, the mosque has three domes and eight minarets at the corners and entrance. In 1986, the Bhong Mosque was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the jury wished to acknowledge the diversity that went into designing the mosque. They also went on to say that the Bhong Mosque enshrines and epitomises “the ‘popular’ taste in Pakistan, with all its vigour, pride, tension and sentiment.”l
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