Kuwvat-ul-Islam Mosque

Quwwat-ul-Islam (in Arabic قوة الإسلام, "The Might of Islam"), also known as the Qutb Mosque or the Great Mosque of Delhi, was commissioned by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the founder of the Mamluk or Slave dynasty, and built using materials from 27 temples. It was constructed next to the site of a previously destroyed large temple located in the center of the citadel.

"The Conqueror entered the city, and its surroundings were freed from idols and idolatry; and on the site of the sanctuaries of the images of gods, mosques were erected by the worshippers of the One God" — chronicler of Qutb al-Din Aibak, Hasan Nizami, Taj-ul-Ma'asir

This was the first mosque built in Delhi after the Islamic conquest of India, and the oldest surviving example of Ghurid architecture on the Indian subcontinent. Construction of this Jami Mosque (congregational mosque) began in 1193 when Aibak was the commander of Muhammad Ghori’s garrison occupying Delhi. To leave a mark of his faith on the new territory, Aibak decided to erect a mosque embodying the might of Islam and chose the heart of the captured Rajput citadel, Qila Rai Pithora, as the site. The Qutb Minar was built simultaneously with the mosque but appears as a separate structure, constructed as the "Minaret of the Jami Mosque" for the muezzin to perform the adhan (call to prayer), as well as a qutb (axis or pillar of Islam). It resembles in style and design the Adhai-din-ka Jhonpra or Ajmer Mosque in Ajmer, Rajasthan, also built by Aibak at the same time by demolishing previously existing temples and a Sanskrit school on that site.

Intriguing stone carvings on the columns of the cloisters of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, Qutb complex, Delhi — Hindu columns with Hindu iconography.

About the site chosen by Aibak for the mosque’s construction, the 14th-century Arab traveler Ibn Battuta says that before the capture of Delhi, it was a Hindu temple which the Hindus called Elbut-khana, but after this event, it was used as a mosque. The Archaeological Survey of India states that the mosque was erected on the remains of a temple and also from materials taken from other destroyed temples, as evidenced by the inscription on the main eastern entrance. According to the Persian inscription still found on the inner eastern gates, the mosque was built from parts taken from the destruction of twenty-seven Hindu temples, previously built during the reign of the Tomars and Prithviraj Chauhan, leaving certain parts of the temple outside the mosque itself. Historical records collected by the Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Sayyid Abdul Hai confirm the iconoclasm of Qutb-ud-din Aibak. This pattern of iconoclasm was widespread during his reign. Some medieval Muslim historians and travelers often attributed the construction of the complex to the Mamluk Sultan Iltutmish rather than Qutb-ud-din Aibak, as is commonly accepted. Ibn Battuta also claims that near the eastern gates of the mosque were two very large idols made of copper, connected by stones. Anyone leaving the mosque would step on them.

The mosque is one of the earliest surviving mosques in India. The original dimensions of the mosque were a courtyard 43 meters by 33 meters. The prayer hall, located on the west, measures 45 meters by 12 meters. The mosque has gray colonnades made of gray stone with three bays on the east and two bays in depth on the north and south. Extensions to the mosque were made in 1296 when its dimensions on the north and south were increased by 35 meters. The famous iron pillar stands on a stone platform in front of it, while the Qutb Minar is located to the west of the main entrance. The central arch of the mosque has a canopy shape, 6.5 meters wide and 16 meters high. The side arches are smaller. The screen is decorated with religious texts and floral patterns. Desai believes that the mosque was built not in a scientific style but in a corbelled style, as evidenced by variations in the arch patterns.

The mosque is built on an elevated and paved courtyard, measuring 43 meters by 32 meters, surrounded by columns added by Iltutmish between 1210 and 1220. The stone screen between the prayer hall and the courtyard, 16 meters high, was added in 1196; the arched vaults had Arabic inscriptions and motifs. The entrances to the courtyard also use decorated mandapa domes from temples, whose columns are widely used in the building and in the sanctuary behind the high arched screens. Today, from the sanctuary on the western side, the arched screens remain, which once led to a series of passages with low domed ceilings for worshippers. The mosque’s expansion continued after Qutb’s death. Qutb-ud-din’s successor, Iltutmish, extended the original prayer hall by adding three more arches. By Iltutmish’s reign, the Mamluk empire had stabilized enough for the sultan to replace most of his hired Hindu stonemasons with Muslims. This explains why the arches added during Iltutmish’s time are stylistically more Islamic than those built during Qutb’s reign, also because the material used was not from destroyed temples. Some additions to the mosque were also made by Alauddin Khilji, including the Alai Darwaza, the formal entrance to the mosque made of red sandstone and white marble, and the courtyard to the east of the mosque in 1300.

The mosque is now in ruins, but local arches, floral motifs, and geometric patterns can be seen among other Islamic architectural structures; for example, to the west of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque is the tomb of Iltutmish, built by the monarch in 1235.

Sources:

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quwwat-ul-Islam_mosque