Thousand Lights Mosque

Thousand Lights Mosque is a beautiful multi domed mosque and is located on the famous Anna Salai Road (also known as Mount road) in Chennai, India. This holy place for Muslims is a Shia Mosque and was established about 400 years ago.

According to legend, Thousand Lights Mosque is named so (‘Thousand lights’) because it needed over one thousand lamps to light up the Assembly Hall. However, there are a few others, who believe that the lights were provided by the Indian National Congress to mark their first visit to the city of Madras, now known as Chennai.

Thousand Lights Mosque was built in mid-1800 on piece of land donated by the Nawab of Wallajah and it was rebuilt in 1981. The mosque is popular for a number of reasons, such as its name, its architecture and its historical and religious importance. In early 19th century, the place where the mosque presently stands used to be the assembly place of the Shiite Muslims, during the month of Muharram. Later, the assembly hall was built, following which the mosque was constructed.

Thousand Lights Mosque is a medieval architectural style building and has an exhilarating structure, with multi domes and spearing minarets. The mosque has two tall minarets and the average height of the minarets is around 64 feet above the ground. Besides, the mosque is adorned with the quotes from the holy book of Muslims, the Quran. There is a main hall at the ground floor to offer prayers for men, while there is a separate room for women. There are two rooms on the second floor which are known as Bargah and represent the sanctuary. Thousand Lights Mosque holds great importance for the Shiite Muslims and is a pilgrimage site for them. Shiya Muslims throng the mosque in large numbers during Muharram.

Visit Thousand Lights Mosque in a city trip to Chennai.