Thousand Lights Mosque

Thousand Lights Mosque
Location: Anna Salai Road
Built in: Mid 1800


Thousand Lights Mosque is a well-known worship place for the Muslims in the Chennai city of Tamil Nadu. It is situated at the Anna Salai Road in the city. 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.

The total area of the land, which was donated by Nawab Wallajah, occupied by the Thousand Lights Mosque is 3 acres. There is an interesting story behind the name of the mosque. It is said that 1000 lamps needed to be lit in order to illuminate the assembly hall. From this, it derived its name, Thousands Lights Mosque. However, there are others, who are of the belief that the lights were provided by the Indian National Congress to mark their first visit to the city of Madras. The mosque is a medieval architectural style building.

It has an exhilarating structure, with multi domes and spearing minarets. 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.