Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque, Qutab Minar, Qutab Complex, New Delhi, India
The Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid or Mosque, which means the "Might of Islam," is known to be one of the oldest and ancient mosques that survived through the centuries and is a definite sight to behold. It was built along with Qutab Minar in 1193 and finished in 1197 by Sultan Qutb-ud-din-Aibak. Originally built with red sandstone, grey quartz, and white marble, the building is currently in ruins and dilapidated. Qutb was a fanatical Muslim. When his garrison occupied Delhi under the command of Muhammed Ghari in 1192, he ordered the destruction of 27 Hindu and Jain temples to furnish building materials for the construction of this mosque. The Hindu stonemasons repurposed columns from the destroyed temples, but adapting them to use in a mosque proved problematic, given Islam's injunction against the use of images in temples. The masons were forced to plaster over the highly sculpted Hindu columns and presumably cover them with geometric designs. However, after centuries of neglect the plaster has fallen away, revealing the original Hindu cravings. Expansion of the mosque continued even after the death of Qutb. His son-in-law Illtutmish extended the original prayer hall. By his time, the Malumak empire had stabilized enough that the Sultan could replace most of his conscripted Hindu masons with Islamic ones. This explains why the arches added under Illtutmish are stylistically more Islamic than the ones erected under Qutb's rule. The decline of Quwwat-Ul-Islam began during the rule of Ala-ud-din (1296 - 1316). Ala-ud-din first seemed inclined to patronize the mosque, even adding an enormous new courtyard wall and erecting the base of a vast new minar. However, Ala-ud-din's dreams were so grand that he abandoned Delhi and moved to nearby Siri, whereupon Quwwat-Ul-Islam lost its pre-eminence.
