By SHIRIN MAZDEYASNA, 7/25/ 2016. I started exploring New Delhi by visiting the Qutb Complex located in the south of Delhi. The Qutub Minar was built as the marker of Muslims’ victory in the fourteenth century, and the complex included the tower for saying the prayer right next to the main corridor enclosing the outdoor prayer area. During the following years, the tower and the complex was reconstructed and completed by upcoming sultans and expanded first three times of its initial size and then 10 times. During the following centuries, the complex have been destructed by natural causes like earthquakes and lightning and hence the ruins today that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
The tower itself was built during different times and by different sultans, hence there is a difference in each story of the Minar (curved or cornered). Unfortunately, only recently going up the tower has been prohibited due to the delicate stairways inside the tower.
This complex is considered one of the first Islamic structures in India and controversially, the stones used to make the columns of the corridor are recycled from the destroyed Hindu temples. Definitely it had been very arguable to do so when Islamic Mamluk Dynasty defeated the state at the time (1192), which reminded me of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul that functioned both as an Islamic mosque and a cathedral before it opened as a museum in 1935. Similarly, the Qutb Complex is now considered a heritage site and has no function rather than for tourism.
In the central prayer hall, sits two sets of tombstones and the Iron pillar of Delhi.
Since the chief Imams were powerful and spiritual sufis, they became the religious preachers for the whole Islam in India. Sultans impressed with their miracolous powers, ordered their bodies to be buried in the mosque. I think the influences of Hinduism on Islam and development of Sufism is very interesting in the sense of how and when these religions were developed in different regions across the Middle East and South Asia. Also, urdu language being there with arabic for Islam and having its roots in Persian letters, creates a tension between saying the prayer in arabic yet reading the translations in Hindu or Ordu languages.
In the central mosque area, also sits the Iron Pillar of Delhi, protected by a fence since 1997. The iron pillar was known to be a gift from the gods due to its material complexion and resistance to rust during the centuries. Miraculous power of gods existed in the iron pillar and those who were physically able to meet their hands when hugging the pillar from their back, were lucky enough to have all their desires fulfilled by the gods. Although this pillar and its tradition was derived from Hindu religion, Muslims embraced having it in the mosque and visitors from all over with any religions strongly believed in it. The tour guy that I was talking to mentioned that only one person in one million people can reach his hands from his back, and only one in 1000 people can reach it from the front. Despite of the pillar’s resistance to rust and erosion, there’s a visible lighter mark on the pillar where people had reached hands over the years. The sweat reacting with the iron caused the difference in color and hence it is now preserved by a fence.
The co-existence of different religions and how they adapted one another for stronger means of faith is fascinating.