India’s oldest mosque is not Cheraman but one in Gujarat; some experts suggest it may even date to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him). The Cheraman Mosque was rebuilt in the 11th century, but the Juni Masjid or Barwada Masjid on the northern edge of the ancient port town of Ghogha, on the Gulf of Khambhat, is still in its original form, albeit in a dilapidated condition, reports the Times of India on 6 November.
Like the Cheraman Mosque, the Barwada Mosque (in Gujarati foreigners’ mosque) is not a listed monument and hence is not covered by any conservation plan. No information is available on when it was built and who built it, but some historians contend that it predates the Cheraman Mosque, which was built in C.E 629, and the Palaiya Jumma Palli or The Old Jumma Masjid of Kilakaria in Tamil Nadu, which was constructed between C.E 628 and 630.
The reason to consider this 15×40 foot structure as the oldest mosque in India lies in the Muslim custom of offering namaz during the times of Prophet Muhammad. One tradition says that Muslims prayed facing Bait El Maqdis in Jerusalem, for the first 13 years of Islam – from C.E 610 to 623. Another tradition limits the period of maintaining the qibla towards Jerusalem to the 17 months after the Hijra, the Prophet’s exodus from Makkah to Medina. In C.E 623, while offering namaz in Medina, the Prophet had a revelation and declared that Muslims were to face the Ka’ba during prayers. From then on, Muslims stopped facing Jerusalem and the qibla has faced the Ka’ba.
At the Barwada Mosque, the qibla indicated by the position of the mehrab, is towards Jerusalem, an angle nearly 20 degrees north of the qibla towards Makkah. This reflects the fact that this stone structure must have been erected much before the Prophet’s declaration that the direction to the Ka’ba be treated as the qibla.
Compass readings taken at the site reportedly put the heading of the mehrab from the entrance at about 295°NW. The heading towards Ka’ba, as at a newer mosque in the same neighbourhood is about 275°NW.
A teacher of history, Professor Mehboob Desai has been arguing about the Barwada Mosque’s antiquity ever since he stumbled upon it. “This is the oldest mosque in India, because I have not heard of any other mosque with its mehrab pointing towards Jerusalem.”
Built by Arab traders on the then bustling port of Ghogha, this stone structure may have been abandoned by devotees after the qibla was changed. With more than half of its roof gone, the pillars are in need of support, and a board on the mosque’s doors asks visitors not to pray there because its mehrab doesn’t point towards the Ka’ba. It also warns people not to damage the structure because of its heritage value.