Historic monument Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.

- Charles Kuralt

Mecca masjid is one of the oldest masjids in the Hyderabad city. The monument overlook another beautiful and grand Charminar. Mecca masjid is just a hundred yards southwest of the historic Charminar.

This monument was built during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Qutub Shah. Between Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah and Aurangzeb, Abul Hasan Tana Shah of Golconda also continued the task launched by the Qutub Shahi kings. It is believed that Muhammed Quli commissioned bricks to be made from earth brought from Mecca and inducted them into the construction of the central arch of the mosque, which explains the name of the mosque. 

ARCHITECTURE:

Mecca Masjid was built during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Qutub Shah, the 6th Qutub Shahi Sultan of Hyderabad in 1617 under the supervision of Mir Faizullah Baig and Rangiah Choudhary. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb completed the construction in 1694.

It took 77 years to come up as the magnificent edifice we see today. Like many other ancient buildings in the city, the mosque is a granite giant with awe-inspiring innards.

The main hall of the mosque is 75 feet high, 220 feet wide and 180 feet long, big enough to accommodate ten thousand worshippers at a time. Fifteen graceful arches support the roof of the main hall, five on each of the three sides. A sheer wall rises on the fourth side to provide mehrab. The three arched facades have been carved from a single piece of granite, which took five years to quarry. More than 8,000 workers were employed to build this grand masjid. Muhammed Qutub Shah himself laid the foundation stone of the masjid. “It is about 50 years since they began to build a splendid pagoda in the town which will be the grandest in all India when it is completed. The size of the stone is the subject of special accomplishment, and that of a niche, which is its place for prayer, is an entire rock of such enormous size that they spent five years in quarrying it, and 500 to 600 men were employed continually on its work. It required still more time to roll it up on to conveyance by which they brought it to the pagoda; and they took 1400 oxen to draw it”, said Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, the French explorer, in his travelogue.

VISITING PLACES:

• Charminar
• Lad bazaar
• The Chow Mahalla palace

GETTING THERE?

• Hyderabad is well connected by air, rail and road to all major cities of the country and has direct international connections to many cities worldwide.
• You can get here by auto-ricshaw or taxi or local bus services. 
• You can take buses from the following areas to reach Charminar, which is rather an economical way to reach.
• From Secunderabad Railway Station: 1C, 2, 2C, 2V, 2Z, 8A, 8C, 8M, 8U and 57S.
• From Nampally Railway Station: 8M, 8R, 8U, 9, 9D, 9F, 9K, 9L, 9M, 9N, 9Q, 9R, 9X, 9Y/F, 41M, 65M and 65S.
• From Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station: 1C, 2, 2C, 2G, 2V and 2Z.