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{{Short description|Mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{for|similarly named mosque|List of grand mosques}}
{{Infobox mosque
| name = Shahi Jama Masjid
| religious_affiliation = [[Islam]]
| image = Shahi Jama Masjid Sambhal21.jpg
| image_upright = 1.4
| caption = [[Façade]] of the mosque in 2023
| location = [[Sambhal]], [[Uttar Pradesh]]
| country = [[India]]
| geo = {{coord|28.58073|78.56714|region:IN-UP_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| map_type = India Uttar Pradesh
| map_size = 250
| map_relief = 1
| map_caption = Location of the mosque in [[Uttar Pradesh]]
| rite =
| consecration_year =
| status = [[Congregational mosque|Friday mosque]]
| functional_status = Active
| leadership =
| website =
| architect =
| architecture_type = {{nowrap|[[Mosque architecture]]}}
| architecture_style = {{ubl|[[Timurid architecture|Timurid]]|[[Sharqi architecture|Sharqi]]}}
| founded_by = Mir Hindu Beg<br/>{{nowrap|{{small|(on orders of Emperor [[Babur]])}}}}
| patron =
| established = {{start date|1526|12|6}} [[Common Era|CE]]
| year_completed =
| construction_cost =
| facade_direction = East
| capacity =
| length =
| width =
| width_nave =
| interior_area =
| height_max =
| dome_quantity = One {{small|(maybe more)}}
| dome_height_outer =
| dome_height_inner =
| dome_dia_outer =
| dome_dia_inner =
| minaret_quantity = Two {{small|(maybe more)}}
| minaret_height =
| inscriptions = Several
| spire_quantity =
| spire_height =
| site_area =
| materials =
| footnotes = <ref name="Asher" />{{sfn|Azam|2003|pp=1409–1410}}<ref name="Crane"/><ref name="Ganga Prasad"/>
}}

The '''Shahi Jama Masjid''' ({{Langx|ur|شاہی جامع مسجد}}) is a [[Congregational mosque|Friday mosque]] located in [[Sambhal]], in the state of [[Uttar Pradesh]], India. Established during the reign of the Mughal emperor [[Babur]] in December 1526, it is the oldest surviving [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]]-era mosque in South Asia.<ref name="Asher">{{Cite book |author=Asher, Catherine |title=Architecture of Mughal India |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |isbn=9781139055635 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |location=Cambridge |page=28 |chapter=The beginnings of Mughal architecture |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/architecture-of-mughal-india/beginnings-of-mughal-architecture/0A55C68933E689D1CE699C6D682A17AF |access-date= }}</ref> The mosque is a protected monument under the [[Ancient Monuments Preservation Act 1904|Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1904]].<ref name="Siasat 24 Nov">{{cite news |date=2024-11-24 |title=Survey of Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal completed |url=https://www.siasat.com/survey-of-shahi-jama-masjid-in-sambhal-completed-3136784/ |newspaper=The Siasat Daily |access-date= }}</ref>

== History ==
=== Establishment ===
[[File:Sambhal Jama Masjid wash drawing.jpg|thumb|260px|Pencil and wash drawing of the Sambhal Jama Masjid; 24 March 1789.<ref name="Sutton">{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Thomas |title=The Daniells: Artists and Travellers |publisher=[[The Bodley Head]] |year=1954 |location=London |pages=45 }}</ref>]]

The mosque is situated atop the highest hillock in Sambhal, in ''muhalla'' ''Kot'', the fortified old town.{{sfn|Nevill|1911|p=254}} An extant inscription on the ''[[mihrab]]'' states the mosque to have been constructed upon the orders of [[Babur]], by his general Mir Hindu Beg, by 6 December 1526.<ref name="Asher"/><ref name="Nath"/>{{sfn|Azam|2003|p=1409}} Thus the mosque was finished seven months after the [[First Battle of Panipat|Battle of Panipat]], in which Babur conquered [[Delhi]] from [[Ibrahim Lodi]], and is the oldest surviving [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]]-era mosque in South Asia.<ref name="Nath"/>

However, both [[Ram Nath]] and Catherine Asher, scholars of [[Mughal architecture]], doubt that Babur had any personal involvement.<ref name="Asher" /><ref name="Nath" /> Asher suggests that the inscription might have merely alluded to Babur's permission to regional governors to construct mosques in newly gained territories; she calls it a "non-imperial mosque" as opposed to the [[Kabuli Bagh Mosque|Panipat mosque]], that was constructed by Babur himself.<ref name="Asher" /> Nath believes that Beg might have refurbished an older Lodi-era mosque.<ref name="Nath" />

== Architecture ==
The mosque is enclosed in a walled complex with a square-shaped courtyard that has a well and an ablution tank; the complex is accessible through a gate on the east.<ref name="Crane">{{Cite journal |author=Crane, Howard |date=1987 |title=The Patronage of Ẓahīr al-Dīn Bābur and the Origins of Mughal Architecture |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24048264 |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |volume=1 |pages=101–102 |jstor=24048264 |issn=0890-4464}}</ref><ref name="Asher" />

The mosque has a rectangular prayer chamber—with the gateway set in the form of a high ''[[Iwan|pishtaq]]''—with a square-shaped central bay. The bay is enclosed by a dome, supported by stalactite [[Pendentive|pendentives]] and topped by a ''[[Kalasha (finial)|kalasha]]'' pinnacle. On either side of the chamber, there exists a three-bayed double-aisled arcade, covered by low flat domes. Behind the ''[[qibla]]'' wall of the central bay, lie two small rectangular chambers which open to these arcades.<ref name="Crane" /><ref name="Asher" />{{sfn|Azam|2003|pp=1409–1410}} The exterior walls of the feature are flanked with large octagonal towers.{{sfn|Azam|2003|p=1410}}

'''Repairs'''

Inscriptions on the ''mihrab'' attest to repairs undertaken in 1625–26 and 1656–57; in the former, the mosque was referred to as an "old mosque".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/are-annual-report-on-epigraphy-1917-21-scan/ARE%20Annual%20Report%20on%20Epigraphy%201952-53 |title=Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy: 1952–53 |publisher=[[Archaeological Survey of India]] |year=1954 |location=Delhi |pages=98 |via=archive.org}}</ref> Records of the mosque-keeper include a confirmation of the office in 1689 and multiple revenue-grants towards the maintenance of the mosque across the eighteenth century.{{sfn|Nevill|1911}} Two inscriptions above the outer and inner arches of the central chamber record restorations effected by local Muslims about 1845.{{sfn|Nevill|1911|pp=258–259}}

=== Views ===
[[John Burton-Page|Burton-Page]], a scholar of Indian architecture, notes the mosque to be imposing but "utterly undistinguished" in architectural novelty.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Burton-Page, John |author-link=John Burton-Page |title=Indian Islamic Architecture: Forms and Typologies, Sites and Monuments |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-16339-3 |editor=Michell, George |page=27}}</ref> Nath believes that the structure has been extensively improved upon, during the repairs, and hence, finds it impossible to guess the original plan of the mosque;<ref name="Nath" /> Asher agrees with the nature of modifications but feels the original design to have survived nonetheless.<ref name="Asher" />

Asher notes a high degree of similarity with the Sharqi architecture of Jaunpur, especially in the usage of a high ''pishtaq'', and suggests a reliance on local artisans.<ref name="Asher" /> However, [[Syed Nadeem Ali Rezavi]] disputes such a lineage and highlights the influence of Timurid architectural conventions—the [[Chahartaq (architecture)|chahartaq]] pattern of the central bay, the high ''pishtaq'', and the domed side arcades of a relatively low height.

== Claims of converted Hindu temple ==
[[File:Perspective_view_of_the_mosque_at_Sambhal,_Uttar_Pradesh_RIBA35777.jpg|thumb|260px|Perspective view of the mosque at Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh; March 1789.<ref name="Sutton"/>]]
[[Abul Fazl]], the court chronicler of emperor [[Akbar]], recorded in ''A'in-i-Akbari'' that Sambhal had a temple called ''Hari Mandal'' ([[Vishnu temple]]). The tenth of avatar of [[Vishnu]], called [[Kalki]], was believed to appear among the descendants of the Brahmin priest of that temple.<ref>{{citation |translator=Jarrett, H. S. |title=The Ain-I Akbari by Abu'l-Fazl Allami, Vol. II |publisher=Baptist Mission Press |location=Calcutta |year=1891 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.6967/page/n297mode/1up |via=archive.org |pages=16, 281}}</ref> Other scholars of Mughal court have also written about the temple, using names such as ''Har Mandir'',<ref>''[[Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh]]'' written by [[Sujan Rai Bhandari]] (1695) in {{harvnb|Sarkar|1901 |p=[https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5760/page/n131/mode/1up 16]}}</ref> and ''Har Mandil''.<ref>''[[Chahar Gulshan]]'' written by Rai Chatar Man Kayath (1759) in {{harvnb|Sarkar|1901 |p=[https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5760/page/n238/mode/1up 123]}}</ref> These narrations are in line with Hindu religious texts.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Eltschinger, Vincent |chapter=On some Buddhist Uses of the kaliyuga |editor1=Wieser, Veronika |editor2=Eltschinger, Vincent |editor3=Heiss, Johann |title=Cultures of Eschatology: Empires and Scriptural Authorities in Medieval Christian, Islamic and Buddhist Communities |volume=1 |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2020 |isbn=978-3-11-059774-5 |pages=143–146 |doi=10.1515/9783110597745-010 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110597745-010/html |quote=[From ''Mahabharata''] A brahmin by the name of Kalki Viṣṇuyaśas will arise, prodded by Time, of great prowess, wisdom, and might. He will be born in the village of Sambhala, in a pious brahmin dwelling, and at his mere thought all vehicles, weapons, warriors, arms, and coats of mail will wait on him.}}</ref><ref>{{citation |translator=Taylor, McComas |title=The Viṣṇu Purāṇa: Ancient Annals of the God with Lotus Eyes |publisher=ANU Press |year=2021 |isbn=9781760464417 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWM0EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA332 |page=332 |quote=When the religion of the Vedas and scriptural tradition are in decline and the Kali age nears its end, Lord Väsudeva—creator of the universe;... the Absolute in the form of the highest self—will manifest an aspect of himself in this world as Kalki in the home the head brahmin Viṣṇuyaśas, in a village called Śaṃbala.}}</ref>{{efn|The Hindu texts however provide little detail about the location of {{lang|sa|Śaṃbala}}, with the exception of ''[[Kalki Purana]]'', which is of a recent vintage.{{sfn|Bernbaum|1985|p=108}} From at least the 11th century, the present day Sambhal became a place of pilgrimage with texts such as {{lang|sa|Tīrtha-pratyāmnāyāḥ}} mentioning it as a {{lang|sa|muktikṣetra}}, a place of salvation.<ref name="Salomon">{{Cite journal |author=Salomon, Richard |date=1979 |title=Tīrtha-pratyāmnāyāḥ: Ranking of Hindu Pilgrimage Sites in Classical Sanskrit Texts |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43376115 |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |volume=129 |issue=1 |pages=121–122 |jstor=43376115 |issn=0341-0137 |lang=de }}</ref>}}

In 1745, Ānand Rām Mukhliṣ, a Hindu scholar and official of the Mughal court, toured Sambhal and recorded the claim that ''Hari Mandal'' had been converted into a mosque.<ref name="Alam">{{cite book |author=Alam, Muzaffar |chapter=Introduction to the Second Edition: Revisiting the Mughal Eighteenth Century |title=The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and Punjab, 1707-48 |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-g3QygAACAAJ |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077411.002.0008 |doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 |isbn=978-0-19-807741-1 |pages= }}</ref>{{sfn|Alam|Subrahmanyam|2007|p=445}} He recounted a line from Sikh ''[[Dasam Granth]]'' to identify the context of the temple:
: Great is the fortune of Sambhal
: Where ''Harji'' will come to the ''Harmandal''.{{sfn|Alam|Subrahmanyam|2007|p=445}}{{efn|The line quoted by Mukhliṣ is an oft-repeated refrain in the [[Kalki]] avatar section of ''Dasam Granth'':
: ''Bhalu Bhaaga Bhayaa Eih Saanbhala Ke Hari Joo Hari Maandari Aavahige'' ॥
It means that the town of Sambhal will be very fortunate because the Lord (''Hari'') will manifest Himself in (its) ''Hari'' temple.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.searchgurbani.com/dasam-granth/page/1015 |title=Dasam Granth Sahib |page =1015 |work=Search Gurbani |date= |access-date=1 December 2024 }}</ref>}}
Mukhlis quoted an inscription on one of the arches saying that the mosque was constructed by Hindu Beg. However, he claimed that it was Babur's son, [[Humayun]], who ordered the conversion of the temple to a mosque after receiving the district as his ''[[jagir]]''. He also narrated that the Hindu pilgrims were still coming to a neighbouring tank and bathing in it as it was considered holy, with Brahmin priests and flower-sellers standing by. Mukhlis did not take umbrage at the conversion of the temple, remarking that what was a place of worship continued to be one.{{sfn|Alam|Subrahmanyam|2007|pp=445–446}}

In 1770, Aḥmad ʿAlī, a scribe under the employment of [[East India Company]], toured Sambhal and produced an account similar to Mukhliṣ.<ref name="Naqvi">{{Cite journal |author=Naqvi, Naveena |date=2020-10-01 |title=On the road: The novice munshi's view of inter-imperial North India |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0019464620948416 |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=495 |doi=10.1177/0019464620948416 |issn=0019-4646|url-access=subscription }}</ref> About two decades later, [[Thomas Daniell]] and [[William Daniell]] etched two drawings of the mosque while travelling through Sambhal, noting it to be "on the site of a Hindoo temple."<ref name="Archer">{{Cite book |author=Archer, Mildred |title=British Drawings in the India Office Library, Vol. 2: Official and Professional Artists |publisher=Foreign and Commonwealth Office |location=London |year=1969 |at=p. 580, item 180 |url=https://archive.org/details/britishdrawingsi02mild/page/580/mode/1up |via=archive.org}}</ref>

In 1874, British archaeologist [[A. C. L. Carlleyle]], working for the [[Archaeological Survey of India]], surveyed the mosque and, according to [[Alexander Cunningham]], determined that it was a converted Hindu temple.<ref name=Cunningham>
{{citation |title=Proceedings of the Fifty-Sixth Meeting of the Society |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=XI |number=III |date=May 1879 |page=XLVI |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofroyala1118roya_0/page/n473/mode/1up |via=archive.org |quote=Amongst the latter the most remarkable was the old city of Sambhal, where the musjid of Bāber was found to be an old Hindu temple altered and adapted to Muhammadan worship.}}</ref> Carlleyle's report states that the bricks of the central bay were stripped of their stone casings before being plastered over, that the stones in the courtyard pathway contained fragments of Hindu sculptures underneath, and that the new bricks used for the side bays were smaller than those of the central bay.<ref name="Carlleyle" /> Thus, Carlleyle proposed that the central bay was indeed a Hindu temple that was converted into a mosque—wherein the stone casings with sculptures were stripped and repurposed as footsteps out of aniconic impulses—and followed up with the addition of new side bays.<ref name="Carlleyle" />

Howard Crane, a scholar of Islamic art and architecture, doubts that the site of the mosque could have been ever occupied by a temple.<ref name="Crane" /> In contrast, Ram Nath agrees that a temple was converted into the mosque and notes the pillars of the temple to have been reused.<ref name="Nath">{{Cite book |author=Nath, Ram |author-link=Ram Nath |title=History of Mughal Architecture |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=1982 |volume=1 |location=New Delhi |pages=103–104 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532498 |via=archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Nath, Ram |author-link=Ram Nath |title=Architecture & Site of the Baburi Masjid of Ayodhya: A Historical Critique |publisher=Historical Research Documentation Programme |year=1991 |isbn=8185105146 |location=Jaipur |pages=20 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author=Nath, Ram |author-link=Ram Nath |title=Mosques of Bābur's reign and their curious epigraphic data (1526-30 A.D.) (excluding the Ayodhya Mosque) |journal=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society |volume=56 |issue=4 |date=2008 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/761301851 |id={{ProQuest|761301851}} }}</ref>

=== Disputes during the British Rule ===
[[File:Jama Masjid Sambhal28.jpg|thumb|260px|The interior of the central dome]]
In 1873, Ganga Prashad, deputy collector of the district, noted the mosque to still have the chain for the suspension of a bell,{{efn|Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a historian of Mughal India, notes that early medieval mosques in India frequently had a provision for a chain to hang a lamp or lantern to provide light.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Menon, Vandana |title=Sambhal: A history of violence |website=ThePrint |date=2024-12-10 |url=https://theprint.in/past-forward/sambhal-a-history-of-violence/2395983/}}</ref>}} and a passage at the back for ''[[parikrama]]'' carried out by Hindus.{{efn|This is a likely references to the rear chambers mentioned as a "peculiar feature" under [[#Architecture]] above.}}<ref name="Ganga Prasad">{{Cite journal |author=Prasad, Ganga |date=May 1873 |title=On Sambhal Inscriptions |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/39480#page/134/mode/1up |journal=Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |pages=98–99}}</ref> Around the same time, Carlleyle alleged local Muslims to have confessed to him about the extant inscriptions being forgeries and about how they had usurped total control of the site only around 1850.<ref name="Carlleyle">{{Cite book |author=Carlleyle, A. C. L. |author-link=A. C. L. Carlleyle |title=Report of Tours in the Central Doab and Gorakhpur in 1874–75 and 1875–76 |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India |year=1879 |location=Calcutta |pages=25–26 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.35530 |via=archive.org}}</ref>{{efn|Given Mukhliṣ' and others' description of the mosque, about a century before him, Carlleyle's informers seem unreliable.}}

In 1878, local Hindus filed a plea in the Moradabad Civil Court asking for the site to be returned to them; they lost the case having failed to prove that the Muslims did not have continuous possession of the site during the previous twelve years.<ref name="IE story">{{cite news |date=2024-11-29 |title=Story of the 500-year-old Sambhal mosque: Competing histories, mythology, and legal fights |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/long-reads/story-500-year-old-sambhal-mosque-histories-mythology-legal-fights-9697297/ |newspaper=The Indian Express |access-date= }}</ref><ref name="Indian Express-2024" /> In addition, the parikrama path did not go through the mosque and the witnesses for the Hindu side were noted to be of a "poor quality" who had never seen the inside of the mosque.<ref name="IE story" />

In 1920, the mosque was brought under the purview of the [[Ancient Monuments Preservation Act 1904|Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1904]], and designated as a protected monument.<ref name="Siasat 24 Nov" />

=== Disputes in independent India ===
{{Further|2024 Sambhal Violence}}
In 1976 the maulana of the mosque was murdered giving rise to rumours that a Hindu man had committed the murder. The local administration record says that it was actually committed by a Muslim man but some rioting followed, leading to long curfews.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Vandana, Wasif |author2=Khan, Manisha Mondal |url=https://theprint.in/past-forward/sambhal-a-history-of-violence/2395983/ |title=Sambhal: A history of violence |work=The Print |date=December 2024 |access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yui |first=Miharu |title=Can Citizen Involvement Overcome Hate Crime in Local Communities? |url=https://minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/7553 |journal=Senri Ethnological Studies |volume=96 |pages=184–185 |date=2017 |doi=10.15021/00008679 |issn=0387-6004}}</ref>

On 19 November 2024, Vishnu Shankar Jain, known for his involvement in the [[Gyanvapi Mosque|Gyanvapi Dispute]], filed a petition in the Chandausi Civil Court arguing that the mosque was built over a 'Shri Hari Har Temple' and asked for an immediate survey of the site.<ref name="Indian Express-2024">{{Cite news |title=How Sambhal row was born, post 1878 suit dismissal, post 1976 tension, when a priest met some familiar names |newspaper=The Indian Express |date=2024-11-28 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/sambhal-row-dismissal-tension-priest-familiar-names-9695820/ |access-date= }}</ref><ref name="Wire survey">{{cite news |date=20 November 2024 |title=Uttar Pradesh: Court-Appointed Commissioner Surveys Mughal-Era Mosque Amid Claims of Ancient Hindu Temple |url=https://thewire.in/religion/uttar-pradesh-court-appointed-commissioner-surveys-mughal-era-mosque-amid-claims-of-ancient-hindu-temple |newspaper=The Wire |access-date= }}</ref> The prayer was granted ''ex parte'' and the survey was completed by the evening.<ref name="Indian Express-2024" /> Commentators and scholars note the litigation to be part of [[Anti-Mosque campaign in India|a broader Hindu nationalist assault]] on Indian Muslims.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Past Continuous, Present Tense |url=https://www.epw.in/journal/2024/49/editorials/past-continuous-present-tense.html |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=LIX |issue=49 |date=7 December 2024 |pages=7–8 |access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Express view: Tragedy in Sambhal |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/express-view-tragedy-in-sambhal-9690194/ |website=The Indian Express |date=2024-11-26 |access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Revanchist suits: The Hindu Editorial on the Shahi Jama Masjid |newspaper=The Hindu |date=2024-12-01 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/%E2%80%8Brevanchist-suits-the-hindu-editorial-on-the-shahi-jama-masjid/article68935041.ece |access-date= }}</ref>

On 24 November, there was an attempt at a fresh survey which gave rise to apprehensions that the surveyors were excavating the mosque; stone-pelting and arson followed, resulting in four deaths, likely from retaliatory police firing.<ref name="Indian Express-2024" /> A week later, the [[Supreme Court of India]] directed the Civil Court to pause all proceedings until the [[Allahabad High Court]] heard the Mosque Committee's challenge to the survey order; the Court ordered the survey report to not be unsealed and emphasised upon the responsibility of the government to maintain peace.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Jain, Debby |author2=Bawa, Anmol Kaur |date=2024-11-29 |title=Sambhal Masjid: Supreme Court Asks Trial Court To Defer Proceedings Till Survey Order Is Challenged In HC, Keep Commissioner Report Sealed |url=https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-asks-trial-court-not-to-proceed-till-sambhal-mosques-petition-against-survey-order-is-listed-in-hc-directs-not-to-open-commissioner-report-276723 |newspaper=Live Law }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2024-11-29 |title=Sambhal mosque survey: SC asks Shahi Jama Masjid management to approach Allahabad HC, tells trial court to halt proceedings |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/supreme-court-sambhal-mosque-survey-case-live-updates-9696603/lite/ |newspaper=The Indian Express }}</ref>

Local Hindus claim that they have always held the mosque to be Harihar Mandir and that they used to offer prayers at a nearby well till a few decades ago; local Muslims do not oppose the Hindu claims but assert that such a temple existed in the mosque's vicinity in ancient times, and not at the site itself.<ref name="Indian Express-2024" />

In December 2024 a police station was built near the mosques, with resultant controversy.<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Excavation conducted, measurement done for police outpost opposite Shahi Jama Masjid in U.P.'s Sambhal |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/excavation-conducted-measurement-done-for-police-outpost-opposite-shahi-jama-masjid-in-ups-sambhal/article69034425.ece |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |date=27 December 2024 |access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= |title=UP: Police outpost to be built opposite Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, measurement begins |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/uttar-pradesh-police-outpost-sambhal-shahi-jama-masjid-9747455/ |work=The Indian Express |date=27 December 2024 |language=en-in |access-date= }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{stack|{{portal|India|Islam}}}}
* [[Islam in India]]
* [[List of mosques in India]]
* [[Bhojshala]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{Cite journal |last1=Alam |first1=Muzaffar |last2=Subrahmanyam |first2=Sanjay |title=Acculturation or Tolerance?: Inter-faith Relations in Mughal North India, c. 1750 |journal=Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam |volume=33 |pages=441, 445–446 |year=2007 |url=https://www.academia.edu/46892575 |ref={{sfnref|Alam|Subrahmanyam|2007}}}}
* {{citation |first=Naiyer |last=Azam |title=Development of Mosque Architecture under Babur |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |year=2003 |volume=64 |pages=1406–1413 |jstor=44145570}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Bernbaum |first=Edwin Marshall |title=The Mythic Journey and its Symbolism: a Study of the Development of Buddhist Guidebooks to Sambhala in Relation to their Antecedents in Hindu Mythology |date=1985 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/3952c99caa630f2eb6b2fef2cb6c80cb/ |page=158-167, 188}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nevill |first=H. R. |title=Moradabad - A Gazetteer |publisher=Government of India |location=Delhi |year=1911 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.181620/page/n235 |via=archive.org |pages=254–255, 257–259}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Jadunath |title=The India of Aurangzib (topography, statistics, and roads) compared with the India of Akbar: with extracts from the Khulasat-ut-tawarikh and the Chahar Gulshan |publisher=Bose Brothers |year=1901 |location=Calcutta |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5760 |via=archive.org}}

== External links ==
{{commons category-inline|Shahi Jama Masjid, Sambhal}}

{{Mosques in India}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:16th-century mosques in India]]
[[Category:Grand mosques|Sambhal]]
[[Category:Mosque buildings with domes in India]]
[[Category:Mosque buildings with minarets in India]]
[[Category:Mosques completed in the 1520s]]
[[Category:Mosques in Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Mughal mosques]]
[[Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1520]]
[[Category:Sambhal]]
[[Category:Timurid mosques]]

Shahi Jama Masjid - Revision history

Miquel41G60448 at 12:07, 6 March 2026