Jama Masjid

Jama Masjid (also spelled Jame Mosque, Jami Masjid, Jameh Mosque, Jamia Masjid or Jomeh Mosque) refers to the main mosque of a town, city or village, and is usually the place of gathering for Eid prayers and Friday prayers. These are sometimes called Congregational mosques or Friday mosques. Many places come to be known as a Jama Masjid as a proper name. These structures are listed below.

Language and etymology

The term Jama Masjid means “Mosque of Assembly” or “Congregational Mosque” and comes from Arabic, Arabic: مسجد الجمعة ‎. Although the word "Jama" means assembly or congregation, it has been conflated with the word for Friday, the primary day of worship in Islam, and hence, originally incorrectly, but still sometimes these are called Friday Mosques, after the Jumu'ah or weekly Friday noon congregation prayers of Muslims.

In Persian, the term is Persian: مسجد جامع‎‎ masjed(-e) jāme. Jameh (جامع) stems from the root word jám (جمع) meaning "gathering", as opposed to Jom'ah (جمعه) meaning "Friday".

Old Delhi

Old Delhi is a walled city of Delhi, India, was founded as Shahjahanabad (Persian: شاه جهان آباد‎‎) by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in 1639. It remained the capital of the Mughals until the end of the Mughal dynasty. It was once filled with mansions of nobles and members of the royal court, along with elegant mosques and gardens. Today, despite having become extremely crowded and dilapidated, it still serves as the symbolic heart of metropolitan Delhi.

History

The site of Shahjahanabad is north of earlier settlements of Delhi. Its southern part overlaps some of the area that was settled by the Tughlaqs in the 14th century when it was the seat of Delhi Sultanate. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty. The five dynasties were the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90), the Khilji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526).

Delhi remained an important place for the Mughals, who built palaces and forts . Most importantly, it was Shah Jahan, who had the walled city built from 1638 to 1649, containing the Lal Qila and the Chandni Chowk. Daryaganj had the original cantonment of Delhi, after 1803, where a native regiment of Delhi garrison was stationed, which was later shifted to Ridge area. East of Daryaganj was Raj ghat Gate of the walled city, opening at Raj Ghat on Yamuna River. First wholesale market of Old Delhi opened as the hardware market in Chawri Bazaar in 1840, the next wholesale market was that of dry fruits, spices and herbs at Khari Baoli, opening in 1850. The Phool Mandi (Flower Market) of Daryaganj was established in 1869, and even today, despite serving a small geographical area, it is of great importance due to dense population.

Jama

Jama or JAMA may refer to:

Delhi

Delhi (/ˈdɛli/, Hindustani pronunciation: [d̪ɪlliː] Dilli), officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi, is the capital territory of India. Delhi is historically and culturally connected to both the Upper Doab of the Yamuna-Ganges river system and the Punjab region. It is bordered by Haryana on three sides and by Uttar Pradesh to the east. It is the largest city in India in terms of geographical area - about 1,484 square kilometres (573 sq mi). It has a population of about 16.3 million, making it the second most populous city and second most populous urban agglomeration in India and 3^rd largest urban area in the world. Such is the nature of urban expansion in Delhi that its growth has expanded beyond the NCT to incorporate towns in neighbouring states and at its largest extent can count a population of about 25 million residents as of 2014.

Delhi has been continuously inhabited since the 6th century BC. Through most of its history, Delhi has served as a capital of various kingdoms and empires. It has been captured, ransacked and rebuilt several times, particularly during the medieval period, and modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region.

Shahi Imam

The Shahi Imam is the Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Mughal emperor Shahjahan appointed Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari, who came from Shah of Bukhera (Uzbekistan) the first Imam of the Mosque, to the high office of Imamat-e-Uzma, and conferred upon him the title of Shahi Imam. The current Imam is a descendent to the first imam that was appointed by the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in a long line of family dynastic appointments. This is not how the appointments of Imams usually take place in other places around the world. However, in this case, because of the purported divine authority claimed by past monarchs, they conferred upon their subjects titles to carry on and this has become a trend ever since with the Imams of the mosque carrying on the traditions of family dynastic domination.

Imams of Jama Masjid

Shahi Imams of Jama Masjid include: