Grand Mosque Mosque Alaqsy (hdyqt Alqmr)

Jamia Masjid Aqsa, tucked into the residential enclave known locally as Moon Garden within Karachi's densely populated Sindhi capital, carries in its name a double resonance with one of the holiest precincts in Islam, the Masjid al Aqsa in Jerusalem whose stones witnessed the night journey of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, and whose courtyard was the first qibla of the Muslim community before the direction of prayer was turned towards the Kaaba. Naming a Pakistani neighbourhood mosque after that distant Palestinian precinct expresses the deep spiritual attachment that Pakistani Muslims maintain to the city of al Quds and to the cause of its people. Karachi itself grew across the twentieth century from a small British colonial port into the largest metropolis of Pakistan, and the Moon Garden estate belongs to the post independence residential developments that provided housing for civil servants, military officers and migrants from the partition era. Architecturally Jamia Masjid Aqsa is a modest neighbourhood institution with whitewashed plaster walls, a single green tiled dome raised above the carpeted prayer hall, a short minaret finished in cream mosaic and a forecourt paved in warm grey stone. The interior follows a restrained South Asian provincial style, with calligraphic inscriptions of the Qur'anic verses referring to the night journey above the mihrab, a mimbar rising in three timber steps and a carpet laid in deep red marked with octagonal medallions. Daily prayers gather commuting workers and residents from the surrounding lanes, the Jumu'ah sermon is delivered in Urdu with Arabic recitation and Ramadan evenings bring tarawih sessions that progress steadily through the thirty ajza over the twenty nine nights. Eid mornings fill the lane outside with rows of worshippers, and vendors briefly pause their stalls of jalebi and falooda to join the takbirat. Visitors should dress modestly, remove shoes at the marble threshold and silence mobile devices before entering. Within reach lie the Quaid e Azam mausoleum with its white marble dome, the National Museum of Pakistan, the Frere Hall library gardens and the Clifton beach promenade extending along the city's long Arabian Sea shoreline.