Goyghor Masjid, ( bn, গয়ঘর খোজার মসজিদ, ar, مسجد الخواجه), also known as the Goyghor Historical Khwaja's Mosque, is an ancient

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

located in the village of Goyghor in Mostafapur Union,

Moulvibazar District Moulvibazar ( bn, মৌলভীবাজার) also spelled Maulvibazar, Moulavibazar, and Maulavibazar, (former South Sylhet) is the southeastern district of Sylhet Division in northeastern Bangladesh, named after the town of Moulvibazar. It i ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. It was built and established on top of a small hill during the reign of the

Sultan of Bengal The Sultanate of Bengal (Middle Bengali language, Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centu ...

Shamsuddin Yusuf Shah Shamsuddin Yusuf Shah ( fa, شمس الدین یوسف شاه, bn, শামসউদ্দীন ইউসুফ শাহ) was the Sultan of Bengal from 1474 to 1481. He belonged to the Ilyas Shahi dynasty and was the successor of his father, ...

in 1476 and is named after Afghan chieftain

Khwaja Usman Khawāja Uthmān Khān Lōhānī ( bn, খাজা উসমান খাঁন লোহানী), popularly known as Khwaja Usman, was a Pashtun chieftain and warrior based in northeastern Bengal. As one of the Baro-Bhuyans, he was a zamind ...

History

According to local villagers, when the mosque was being constructed, the area was covered in dense forest and inhabited by tigers. To this day, three marks of a tiger's paw remains on the eastern pillar inside the mosque. During the reign of

, Musa ibn Haji Amir and his son, the Minister of Sylhet,

Majlis Alam Majlis Alam ( bn, মজলিস/মজলিশ আলম, Mojlis/Mojlish Alom, fa, ), was a minister (Dastur) of Srihat (Sylhet) from 1472 to 1476, during the reign of Shamsuddin Yusuf Shah, the Sultan of Bengal of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. ...

, built the mosque in 1476. Majlis Alam is also known for building

Shah Jalal Jalāl Mujarrad Kunyāʾī (), popularly known as Shah Jalal, was a celebrated Sufi figure of Bengal. His name is often associated with the Conquest of Sylhet and the spread of Islam into the region, part of a long history of interactions bet ...

's mosque in

Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...

. In 1593, an Afghan chief by the name of

, one of the

Baro-Bhuyan The Baro-Bhuyans (or ''Baro-Bhuyan Raj''; also ''Baro-Bhuians'' and Baro-Bhuiyans) refers to the confederacies of soldier-landowners in Assam and Bengal in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The confederacies consisted of loose ...

s of Bengal and the last Afghan ruler in Bengal, took shelter in this mosque after the Afghan rebellion against the

Subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...

Mughal Bengal The Bengal Subah ( bn, সুবাহ বাংলা; fa, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal ( bn, মোগল বাংলা), was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire (and later an independent state under the Nawabs of Beng ...

Man Singh I Man Singh I, popularly known as Mirza Raja Man Singh (21 December 1550 – 6 July 1614) was the 29th Kachwaha Rajput Raja of Amer, later known as Jaipur state, in Rajputana. He was the most powerful and trusted general of the Mughal emp ...

. In the late 1930s, a scholar by the name of Azam Shah is said to have settled near the mosque. In 1940, the original dome fell apart and Azam Shah raised money for the building of a new dome in which he successfully built alongside Ismail Mistri of

Baniachong Baniachong ( bn, বানিয়াচং) is an upazila of Habiganj District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Village Baniyachong is the biggest and the most populous village in Asia. History Baniachong constituted the grand estate (zami ...

. In 1960, the mosque was again refurbished. After the depart of Azam Shah, it fell apart again and was held with branches and seedlings.

Architecture

The dome is white-tiled and 18 feet tall. There are 3 large doors as well as 6 smaller doors. On the eastern pillar of the interior of the building, there is a mark of a tiger's paw. Near the ceiling, there is an

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

inscription with a flowery design. There is a rock inscription on the western wall which is protected by an iron cage to avoid thieves. The brick masonry of the walls is very thick.

References

Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila Buildings and structures in Sylhet Division Mosques in Bangladesh Mosque buildings with domes 15th-century mosques Religious buildings and structures completed in 1476 {{Bangladesh-mosque-stub