AN ANCIENT MOSQUE BY THE RIVER
Photos: Darshan Chakma
Makhdum Shah Daulah Shahid (R.), the fourteenth century Muslim saint, recognised for preaching Islam in northern India was the second son of a Yemeni king, Muaz bin Jabal. It is said that, together with some 20 companions, including three of his nephews, Khwaja Kalan Danishmand, Khwaja Noor and Khwaja Anwar and their mother (Sati Bibi, daughter of Muaz bin Jabal), Makhdum Shah travelled to preach Islam with his father's permission. After meeting Shaikh Jalaluddin Bukhari, the famous Sufi Saint at Bokhara, Makhdum Shah got a pair of gray pigeons as a sign of good wishes from him.
When they were proceeding towards Bengal from Bokhara, after passing long waterways, their ships got stuck at one place (Presently, that place is known as Potajia), where there was no sign of land. After a few days, noticing alluvium and sands at their pigeons' feet, they realised the existence of a nearby sand-bed. So, they followed the pigeons and settled there, which is now known as Shahzadpur (it was named according to the "Shahzada" of Yemen), in Sirajganj District. Prior to that, Vikram Kesari, the then Hindu king of Bihar owned that area.
According to tradition, Makhdum Shah and his companions built a mosque at Shahzadpur, which is, even today, known as Makhdum Shah's Mosque. The mosque stands on the bank of the river Hurasagar at Dargapara, the extreme end of the Shahzadpur. A book named "Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh" by Parween Hasan presents an amazing description of it.
The rectangular 15-domed mosque has eight black basalt pillars-- square at the base and top and octagonal at the middle. There are five impressive arched entrances recessed within rectangular frames, five mihrabs, (a niche in the wall of a mosque, toward which the worshippers faces to pray), one minbar (a platform for a priest in a mosque). The mosque gives people an idea about the stylistic and decorative characteristic of the early Sultanate architecture of Bengal.
The locals have firm belief about the emergence of the mosque. According to them, the mosque is miraculous, as in prior times, the black basalt pillars of the mosque were not available in Bengal and also, it was not possible for Makhdum Shah to carry those heavy-weighted pillars from Yemen. Furthermore, the equipment for designing and fitting the pillars were not introduced yet.
Makhdum Shah fought several times against King Vikram for preaching Islam. But at one time, Vikram's men beheaded Makhdum Shah, while he was praying at the mosque. His tomb is adjacent to the mosque and Khwaja Noor, one of the three nephews was buried beside him. There is another tomb in the northeast corner and a mass grave on the south.
Every year, in the middle of the Bengali month Chaitra, the authority of the mosque arranges a month-long fair, attended by people from different regions of the country. Apart from that event, people come to pray everyday, and donate rice, sugar, sweets, poultry and candles to the mausoleum. On Fridays, during the Jumu'ah prayer, the mosque cannot accommodate all the worshipers, as it becomes overcrowded.
In 1992, the mosque was taken under the maintenance of the Department of Archaeology of the government. Renovated by the authority, local governments and residents several times, the mosque, even today, conveys the glimpse of the early sultanate architecture.
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