ACs welcome faithful in Mumbai mosques

Written By Unknown on Senin, 18 Agustus 2014 | 22.23

MUMBAI: Moments before the muezzin calls for the evening prayers, the glass door and windows at Al Medina mosque in Agripada are shut. The mosque's lanky, bearded khadim (caretaker) switches on over a dozen air-conditioners and its many chandeliers too start glimmering. With outside sound shut and the inside temperature brought down to a comfortable level, imam Abu Zar leads the congregational prayers which last barely for 15 minutes. Once the prayers are over and most of the devotees have left, air-conditioning is switched off while the fans whirr for the few latecomers who are still at the prayers.

Al Medina belongs to a lengthening list of mosques in the city which have been air-conditioned. If places of worship are barometers for any community's prosperity, the mosques getting increasingly air-conditioned certainly prove that Muslims are getting materially well off. Adding to the mosques' opulence visible in decorated walls, imported and expensive prayer mats and glittering chandeliers, are the cooling machines. "We aim to make namazis comfortable. Those who visit Allah's house must feel good and happy," says Al Medina's trustee Adil Ishaq Latif.

As open spaces have rapidly shrunk and high rises dwarf mosques, the ventilation in these sacred places have been affected badly. Take the mosque at the massive, century-old Haji Saboo Siddiq Musafirkhana (old Haj House) near the crowded Crawford Market. Though the mosque here is as old as the Musafirkhana, it was air-conditioned only four months ago. "It would become stuffy and hot inside during summer as the mosque is located on the ground floor and doesn't have proper ventilation. Since the mosque is also used to train Haj pilgrims before they leave for Mecca, we decided to go for air-conditioning," says former MLA and Musafirkhana Trust's chairman Bashir Patel.

Since mosques became too small to accommodate the devotees, especially on Fridays and two annual Eids (Ramzan Eid and Bakrid), the affluent in the community started making mosques in the basement of buildings. And many of such mosques have got air-conditioned even as they are deprived of sunlight and natural air. "Many people are used to ACs as their homes, cars and offices are air-conditioned. So they should not feel uncomfortable in the mosques as well. We needed to make our mosque air-conditioned also because of the Tarawih (special prayers in the night during Ramzan which last for an hour)," says Mehboob Doodhwala whose family has built the Fine Touch mosque, named after the building whose basement it occupies at Agripada.

It was to provide comforts to the faithful who attended Tarawih that made businessman Haroon Chunawala to spend Rs nine lakh on air-conditioning Noor Masjid at Jogeshwari. "Though our mosque shares space with a kabrastan (graveyard) and gets fresh breeze, those perform Tarawih here deserve better amenities like air-conditioning. Khuda ke ghar se achcha koi ghar nahin hona chahiye (No house should be more comfortable than God's house)," says Chunawala who imported carpets worth Rs 3.5 lakh from Jeddah for the mosque.

The urge to air-condition mosques is becoming stronger by the day. Congress MLC Muzaffar Hussain whose family has built the massive Al Shams Juma Masjid at Mira Road says he is planning to air-condition it soon. "It will cost us Rs 3 cr while monthly maintenance will cost Rs 4.5 lakh and the electricity bill alone will shoot up to Rs 1.75 lakh. Still we will go ahead with it," resolves Hussain. The under-construction Abdus Salam Mosque near Crawford Market, on the same site where the 40-year-old mosque existed, too plans to install air-conditioning in it. The hundreds who visit it, including Hafiz Abdul Jaleel who has led the prayers here for the last 33 years, will feel a bit more comfortable while they submit themselves to Allah's command.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=bearded khadim,Al Medina mosque,ACs in Mumbai mosques


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