Shah Khub Sayyid Masjid

Ahmedabad, India

The mosque known as Shah Khub Sayyid lies in the center of the historic walled city of Ahmedabad, just south of the market square adjoining the Bhadra or Citadel. An inscription names the building’s patron as Naw Khan Farhat al-Mulk, who was a noble at the court of the Gujarat Sultans. The same inscription dates the building to 1538/945 AH.

The mosque is a rectangular building, closed on three sides and completely open on its eastern façade to a large open court that adjoins the prayer hall. This eastern façade is framed by two ornately carved minarets. The minarets take the form of wide buttresses near their bases, and taper as they pass the roofline to slender cylindrical towers.

The interior of the building is a large pillared prayer hall. Eighteen pillars arranged in three rows of six divide the space into three aisles parallel to the qibla, each seven bays long, for a total of 21 bays. A small dome covers each of these bays. Three mihrabs mark the qibla on the western wall, and four windows pierce the qibla wall. On each of the side walls, two balcony windows with carves screens afford views onto the surrounding areas. 

Sources:

Burgess, James. The Muhammadan Architecture of Ahmadabad. Part I - A.D. 1412 to 1520, 82-83. Archaeological Survey of Western India, Vol. 7. London: William Griggs & Sons, 1900.