Musa Khan Mosque

• 1. Introduction

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  The Musa Khan Mosque sits in the southern part of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on the grounds of the University of Dhaka. It stands next to Shahidullah Hall and behind Curzon Hall. Three domes mark it as a Mughal structure raised in the 18th century. It bears the name of Musa Khan, son of Isa Khan, one of the most prominent Baro-Bhuyans of medieval Bengal.

  Yet a government metro-rail project now threatens the mosque, along with many other historic sites across the city. Who was Musa Khan, and why did his family build a mosque in his honor? How was the mosque designed to survive for centuries? And what exactly is at stake as construction moves in?

• 2. A Baro-Bhuyan's Line

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  Twelve landlords, known collectively as the Baro-Bhuyan, once governed the land of Bengal during the medieval period. Isa Khan, a Muslim Rajput commander, led the group and won a series of military campaigns against Mughal forces. He ruled from his capital at Sonargaon, in what is now Narayanganj District, until he died in 1599.

  After his father's death in 1599, Musa Khan took command and kept fighting Mughal forces on the western and northern fronts. Mughal general Islam Khan I eventually defeated him, and Musa Khan then swore loyalty to the Mughals. He went on to serve in the Mughal army during the Tripura campaign, and died a natural death in 1623. He was buried in Dhaka.

  Diwan Munawar Khan, Musa Khan's grandson, built the mosque beside his grandfather's grave in remembrance of him.

  The mosque he raised carries Mughal craftsmanship in its domes and its corner minarets, features that would help decide its fate centuries later.

• 3. Domes and Minarets

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  A vaulted platform roughly three meters high supports the entire mosque, with the platform's width ranging from 14 to 17 meters.

  A staircase on the platform's southwestern corner is the only way up to the top of the stage. Underneath, a series of rooms lie badly damaged and largely hidden from view.

  The mosque proper occupies just the western half of that elevated platform.

  Four octagonal corner minarets, each flanked by extra towers, rise above flat fortifications and end in compact domed cabins.

  That elevated stage and its fortified corners have withstood Bengal's climate for generations, but a different kind of construction now bears down on the site.

• 4. Under the Metro's Shadow

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  The Musa Khan Mosque is one of the rarest Mughal structures left in the country. It now sits directly in the path of a metro-rail project run by the government of Bangladesh.

  Planners have listed the mosque among 75 structures of historical importance that could suffer serious damage as the rail line advances.

  As a Sunni mosque raised under the Mughals, its next test will be whether Dhaka's metro planners build around it or through it.