Mecca Masjid

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Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah started the construction of the mosque named ‘Mecca Masjid’ in the year 1617, while it was completed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1694 and now it is considered as one of the oldest and biggest mosques not only in Andhra Pradesh, but in whole of India. Placed near Charminar, it was constructed under the direction of various rulers in the 17th century. For its successful completion, almost 77 laborious years were devoted and workforces of 8,000 laborers were envolve to complete this enormous mosque.

Mecca Mosque is located at a distance of 100 yards to the southwest of Charminar. It is believed that the mosque had its groundwork laid with the bricks brought from Mecca. Conceivably, this is the explanation for its name. At the time of laying the base stone of the Masjid, citizens from all over the city were called. It is said that- at the time of foundation, it had been said to citizen that the foundation stone will be laid by the person who had never missed his prayers. Nobody came frontward, thus Sultan Muhammad laid the foundation since he had never missed any prayer from the age of 12. It is significant to see that the prayer hall of the Mecca reaches the height of 75 feet, width of 220 feet and length of 180 feet. It has two octagonal columns on each side, carved out of a single piece of granite. There is a large pool in the courtyard that has slab seats on its sides. It is believed that any tourist, who sits on these seats, will definitely come back to Hyderabad.

The mosque also holds sacred relics and out of them, one is the hair of Prophet. Muhammad. Mecca Masjid is a heritage tombstone and to care for this structure from pollution, the State Government has made this area a Traffic Free Zone in 2001. This mosque indisputably has a charm that attracts people from all over the place.