EIDGAH MOSQUE

BEAUTIFUL PICTURES OF EIDGAH MOSQUE

SITUATED

Id Gah Mosque or Eid Gah Mosque is the second largest mosque in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It is considered the cardinal religious mosque in the country, where a million people offer Eid prayers twice a year. It is located near the Mahmud Khan bridge and National Stadium in the eastern part of the city, in the Shar-e-barq of Kabul, which is one of the wealthier areas of the city.

BUILT IN AND BY

, Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901) is given the credit for starting its construction in 1893 before his death and his son Amir Habibullah is accredited for its completion. It has been the scene of religious festivals, religious ceremonies, state functions such as coronations and priestly religious ceremonies attended by the Amirs. It was from this mosque that the then Amir Habibullah made his historic announcement of his country's independence, in 1919.

HISTORY OF MOSQUE

Id Gah Mosque was commissioned by Babur the ruler of the Mughal empire before being renovated on a large scale by King Abdur Rahman Khan in 1893 or before. It is said that Babur used stones imported from India to build the mosque; building huge mosques was meant a publicity propaganda during Mughal rule. Another story relates to Jahangir was the original builder of this mosque.
Afghan history records indicate that in 1901, the then Emir of Afghanistan, the head of the state, publicly performed the priestly functions by celebrating the Id at Id Gah Mosque. The chief priest of Kabul immediately proclaimed Habibullah to be the successor of Mohamed, where upon the Emir of Afghanistan delivered an address inspired by an "intolerant ecclesiasticism". Among other things the Amir passed a dictum that a fine of up to ten Kabuli Rupees would be levied on all who did not offer prayers in the mosques. A register of the daily attendance of all individuals was to be kept in various places and a “box of justice” was to be kept into which secret reports could be dropped reporting on people who had not obeyed this dictum of compulsory attendance for religious prayers at the mosques.
n 1914-15, the bitter feud between Britain and Afghanistan assumed the proportions of a holy war or jihad, even though the new ruler Emir Habibullah had initially opposed this approach of the mullahs. After his ascension to the throne in 1919, he aligned with the mullahs to attack British bases. Before he launched a war on May 15, 1919, the Emir made a speech at the Id Gah Mosque in Kabul urging his countrymen to wage jihad against the British.
After the Third Anglo-Afghan War, on August 19, 1919, Emir Amanullah announced Afghanistan's independence from this mosque.[9]

On September 21, 2010 a demonstration took place at the mosque.