Mumbai Air-conditioned Mosques

OnIslam & Newspapers

Monday, 18 August 2014 00:00

Al Medina belongs to a lengthening list of mosques in the city which have been air-conditioned.

CAIRO – Offering Muslims a comfortable setting for performing prayers, a growing number of Mumbai mosques have been installing air conditions that operate during daily prayers, reflecting Muslim community’s prosperity.

“We aim to make namazis (worshippers performing prayer) comfortable. Those who visit Allah's house must feel good and happy,” Al Medina's trustee Adil Ishaq Latif told Times of India on Monday, August 18.

Al Medina belongs to a lengthening list of mosques in the city which have been air-conditioned.

With many linking air-conditioned mosques to an increasing prosperity of the Indian Muslim community, the air-condition systems proved a solution to some mosques which drew worshippers off due to its bad ventilation.

One of those mosques is the century-old Haji Saboo Siddiq Musafirkhana (old Haj House) near the crowded Crawford Market.

The old mosque was revived after it was air-conditioned 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,” says former MLA and Musafirkhana Trust's chairman Bashir Patel.

“Since the mosque is also used to train Hajj pilgrims before they leave for Makkah, we decided to go for air-conditioning,” he added.

Muslims in India constitute 14 percent population of the country.

Mosque Shortage

Facing a mosque shortage, many Muslims have started using basements of buildings as a makeshift mosque.

Deprived of sunlight or natural air, Muslim worshippers had to use air-conditions to encourage Muslims to attend prayers.

“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,” says Mehboob Doodhwala whose family has built the Fine Touch mosque, named after the building whose basement it occupies at Agripada.

“We needed to make our mosque air-conditioned also because of the Taraweeh (special prayers in the night during Ramadan which last for an hour).”

Lengthy taraweeh prayers during Ramadan has encouraged 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.

“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.

Muslim mosques have been facing troubles over the past few weeks following a decision to ban using loudspeakers during Muslims’ adhan, or call to prayers.

Debates started when Navi Mumbai resident Santosh Pachalag petitioned the Bombay High Court against “illegal use of loudspeakers” by mosques in his area.

A Right to Information (RTI) plea has found that 45 of 49 mosques in the area didn't have permission to use loudspeakers.

Opposition to Muslims’ adhan dates back to months ago when Hindu outfit called Rashtriya Hindu Andolan organized a protest in Mangalore city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka demanding a ban on morning adhan.

Protesters claimed that the Muslim call to prayer at dawn disturbs people of other faiths.