The mosque
will be in a 500-acre self-contained township Markaz Knowledge City
accommodating a centre for Islamic learning, an information technology (IT)
hub, a medical college, an engineering college, schools, hospitals, shopping
malls and various other institutions, besides residential complexes.
"The
mosque will reflect the universal brotherhood and spiritual enlightenment that
Islam stands for. There will also be a library for Islamic research and a
conference hall where both Muslims and non-Muslims can come in pursuit of
knowledge," said Abu Bakr Ahmed alias Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar, who
heads the group of Islamic institutions, Markazu Ssaqafathi Ssunniyya.
"For
this, we're receiving huge support from people from all walks of life,
especially the Kerala diaspora."
Musliyar
heads the popular social, charity and educational organization which has in the
past three decades educated more than 30,000, including a large number of
children from the displaced families of Gujarat and Indian part of Kashmir.
The
Sha'ar-e-Mubarak Grand Masjid is planned on a 12 acre plot of which eight acres
have been set apart for landscaping a Mugul-style garden and the entire
structures in the township will be environment-friendly with a lot of open
space and greenery.
"We
are planning to start work in 250 acres already acquired for the project in
five months and the mosque will be ready in two years. The entire project will
be complete in another five years," said Riyaz Mohammed, the architect of
the project who is credited with building some half a million square feet of public
spaces including the Haj House, Karipur, Infopark, Koratty and National
Institute of Fashion Technology campus in Kannur.
The mosque
with an open-sky courtyard is expected to be completed at a cost of Rs. 400 million
while the entire township project will cost around Rs. 12 billion. It will accommodate
25,000 people for prayer at a time.
"My
effort is to blend the traditional Islamic architecture with the modern
technology adopting the green building concept. It will also employ a large
number of people in this backward area," said Mohammed, a graduate from
the National Institute of Technology, Kozhikode. "The built-up area will
harmoniously blend with the greenery around."
