Gharibullah Mosque

Gharibullah Mosque also known as bari majlis jami mosque, is situated at village Bari Majlis in Sonargaon upazila of Narayanganj district, about half a kilometer north of Magrapara crossing on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. The mosque was built, as evidenced by an inscription, in 1739-1740 AD (1152 AH) by Shaikh Gharibullah, a jachandar or examiner of clothe to the English East India Company.

The mosque is a single-domed square building with four engaged octagonal corner towers at the four outer angles, which extend beyond the parapet and are crowned by cupola with finials. The large hemispherical dome carried on squinches is placed on an octagonal drum and crowned by an inverted lotus and kalasa finial. The drum has a blind arcade on miniature columns running all around, and a row of decorative merlons on top. There are three entrances in the east, and one each on the north and south sides. The entrance arches were originally semicircular with cusps and decorated with a bouquet motif at the apex. There are three mihrabs in the interior of which one is now being used as a locker. No original decoration of the mihrabs is now left. The outside walls of the mosque are plastered and articulated with rectangular panels, and there are cusped semi-circular arches inside.

The mosque has been renovated several times, and extended by tin-shed verandas on brick pillars on the north, east and south sides. It is presently being used as a jami mosque. [Muazzam Hussain Khan]