Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta

The Shah Jahan Mosque (Urdu: شاہ جہاں مسجد‎, Sindhi: مسجد شاهجهاني،‎, Persian: مسجد شاه‌جهان‎), otherwise called the Jamia Masjid of Thatta (Urdu: جامع مسجد ٹھٹہ‎, Sindhi: شاھجھاني مسجد ٺٽو‎), is a seventeenth century constructing that fills in as the focal mosque for the city of Thatta, in the Pakistani territory of Sindh. The mosque is considered to have the most intricate showcase of tile work in South Asia,[1][2] and is likewise outstanding for its mathematical block work - an improving component that is uncommon for Mughal-period mosques.[3] It was worked during the rule of Mughal sovereign Shah Jahan, who offered it to the city as a badge of gratitude,[1] and is intensely impacted by Focal Asian engineering - an impression of Shah Jahan's missions close to Samarkand instantly before the mosque was designed.[1]The mosque is situated in eastern Thatta - the capital of Sindh in the sixteenth and seventeenth hundreds of years before Sindh's capital was moved to local Hyderabad. It is situated close to the Makli Necropolis, an UNESCO World Legacy Site. The site is roughly 100 kilometers from Karachi. 

Foundation 

The mosque's tile work displays Timurid impacts presented during Shah Jahan's missions in Focal Asia. 

Shah Jahan looked for shelter in Thatta from his dad Head Jahangir, after he had defied his father.[4] Shah Jahan was intrigued by the friendliness he got by the Sindhi public, and requested development of the mosque as a badge of gratitude.[1][5] Development of the mosque might have likewise been somewhat propel by a longing to assist with reducing the impacts of a staggering tempest that affected the locale in 1637,[3] and which had almost annihilated Thatta.[1] 

Shah Jahan's missions in Focal Asia during this time affected the mosque's design style, as Timurid impacts were brought into the Mughal Realm as his militaries squeezed towards Samarkand, in cutting edge Uzbekistan.[1] Notwithstanding the way that the Ruler was not in the district during its development, as was improbable straightforwardly associated with its development, its lavish tile-work and mind boggling block work show that it was financed by the Mughal's royal coffers.[3] 

History 

The entrance to the primary petition corridor is from the focal patio. 

Persian engravings at the mosque demonstrated that it was worked somewhere in the range of 1644 and 1647,[3] during the rule of Mughal Ruler Shah Jahan. An eastern expansion was finished in 1659,[6] during the rule of Ruler Aurangzeb. 

The mosque's mihrab had at first been mistakenly lined up with Mecca. The Sufi spiritualist, Makhdum Nooh, who is covered in the close by city of Hala is said to have been drawn closer by the mosque's organizers to address its arrangement. Famous custom keeps up with that Makhdum Nooh then, at that point, revised the mistake for the time being by the force of his supplication, along these lines guaranteeing his status as a saint.[7] Chronicled records show that the mosque's mihrab had really been remade a century after the mosque's construction.[7] 

Engineering 

The Shah Jahan Mosque's compositional style is obviously affected by Turkic and Persian styles.[8] The mosque is described by broad brickwork and the utilization of blue tiles, the two of which were straightforwardly impacted by Timurid building styles from Focal Asia[3][1] − from where the past leaders of Sindh, the Tarkhans, had hailed before the district was attached by the Mughals in 1592.[3] 

Beautiful components 

Tile work 

The mosque's fundamental arch has tiles masterminded in a stellate example to address the night sky.[3] 

The abundant utilization of tiles is viewed as the most intricate presentation of tile work in the Indian Subcontinent.[1][2] Not at all like the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, another Shah Jahan time mosque, the mosque in Thatta doesn't utilize the utilization of fresco. 

The mosque's tiles address an immediate impact of the Timurid style.[1] The mosque utilizes Cobalt blue, turqoise, manganese violet, and white tiles. 

The mosque's vault is adorned with flawless blue and white tile-work masterminded in stellated examples to address the heavens.[3] Its dividers highlight calligraphic tile work, endorsed by Abdul Ghafur and Abdul Sheikh.[9] 

The tiles' area and course of action shows Persian Safavid influence,[1] and highlights a few tones on a solitary tile,[3] dissimilar to tile work at Lahore which included a solitary tone on each tile.[3] The utilization of multicolour tiles and flower designs reflects Persian Kashani influences.[2] 

Block work 

The mosque grandstands brickwork in mathematical examples. 

The mosque highlights broad brickwork laid in mathematical examples, which is a brightening component strange for Mughal time mosques,[3] and is a component of Timurid design embraced for use in the mosque.[3] The mosque's brickwork was additionally impacted by Sindhi vernacular styles, which thusly was affected by Persian architecture.[3] Block work is generally prominent in the arcades encompassing the focal yard, while concentric rings of block are utilized to adorn the underside of fringe vaults. 

Format 

Brickwork along hallways 

The format of the mosque might have been impacted by the traditionalist Timurid-style Humayun Mosque in Kachhpura, close to the city of Agra,[3] in advanced India. The fundamental doorway into the mosque complex is through a Persian-style Charbagh, or quadrangle garden. 

The fundamental supplication corridor is set toward the west of its focal patio, which highlights iwans, or entries, in every one of its four cardinal headings. The yard is rectangular fit, and measures 169 feet by 97 feet. It is encircled by aisled exhibitions, which are fixed with 33 curves. 

The mosque's mihrab highlights pierced screens - a component that is usually utilized on Mughal funerary landmarks, however surprising in Mughal mosques.[3] The mosque highlights incredible acoustics; an individual talking toward one side of the vault can be heard from the opposite end when the discourse surpasses 100 decibels.[10] Supplications in the fundamental petition lobby can be heard all through the whole building.[2] 

The mosque is strange for its absence of minarets. It has an aggregate of 93 arches, the vast majority of any design in Pakistan.[10]Restoration works were completed by Sovereign Aurangzeb in 1692, just as by Murad Ali Khan Talpur in 1812.[11] The mosque was recorded on the provisional UNESCO World Legacy list in 1993,[12] however has not been saved to similar elevated requirements as the Wazir Khan Mosque or Badshahi Mosque in northern Pakistan.[10]Khan, Ahmed Nabi and Robert Wheeler. Islamic Design in South Asia, Oxford: Oxford College Press, 2003. 

Lari, Yasmeen. Customary Design of Thatta, Karachi: Legacy Establishment, 1989. 

Mumtaz, Kamil Khan. Design in Pakistan, Singapore: Idea Media Pte Ltd, 1985. 

Nadiem, Ihsan H. Notable Mosques of Lahore, Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Distributions, 1998. 

Nadiem, Ihsan H. Makli : The Necropolis at Thatta, Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Distributions, 2000.