India's biggest mosque to come up in Kozhikode

India's biggest mosque, bigger than Delhi's Jama Masjid, is coming up in Kerala. Being built on the outskirts of Kozhikode, the mosque will have a built-up area of 250,000 sq. ft., far out-sizing the 17th century mosque commissioned by Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan in the capital .The mosque will be in a 500-acre self-contained township Markaz Knowledge City accommodating a centre for Islamic learning, an information technology (IT) hub, a medical college, an engineering college, schools, hospitals, shopping malls and various other institutions, besides residential complexes .The mosque will reflect the universal brotherhood and spiritual enlightenment that Islam stands for. There will also be a library for Islamic research and a conference hall where both Muslims and non-Muslims can come in pursuit of knowledge," said Abu Bakr Ahmed alias Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar, who heads the group of Islamic institutions, Markazu Ssaqafathi Ssunniyya "For this, we're receiving huge support from people from all walks of life, especially the Kerala diaspora ."Musliyar heads the popular social, charity and educational organization which has in the past three decades educated more than 30,000, including a large number of children from the displaced families of Gujarat and Indian part of Kashmir .The Sha'ar-e-Mubarak Grand Masjid is planned on a 12 acre plot of which eight acres have been set apart for landscaping a Mugul-style garden and the entire structures in the township will be environment-friendly with a lot of open space and greenery .We are planning to start work in 250 acres already acquired for the project in five months and the mosque will be ready in two years. The entire project will be complete in another five years," said Riyaz Mohammed, the architect of the project who is credited with building some half a million square feet of public spaces including the Haj House, Karipur, Infopark, Koratty and National Institute of Fashion Technology campus in Kannur .The mosque with an open-sky courtyard is expected to be completed at a cost of Rs. 400 million while the entire township project will cost around Rs. 12 billion. It will accommodate 25,000 people for prayer at a time . My effort is to blend the traditional Islamic architecture with the modern technology adopting the green building concept. It will also employ a large number of people in this backward area," said Mohammed, a graduate from the National Institute of Technology, Kozhikode. "The built-up area will harmoniously blend with the greenery around ".

Source : Arab News.com