Patiala

A 300-year-old mosque in village Shatrana in Patran tehsil of Patiala district of Punjab has been reopened after 74 years after the last of the Muslims left the village for Pakistan in the wake of the partition of the Indian sub-continent.

Maulana Muhammad Usman Rahmani,  Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam-e-Hind and Deputy Shahi Imam of Punjab offered prayers in the mosque after 74 years.

Since the partition, this mosque has remained closed and was maintained by a Sikh woman Amreek Kour all these years.

The village has a history of Muslim clerics offering resistance to the British in the First War of independence in 1857.  Maulana Shah Abdul Qadir Ludhianvi led the team of revolutionaries from Punjab against the foreign rulers.

He not not only issued a fatwa on a jihad against the British but also mobilized all the revolutionary forces of Punjab and joined hands with the last Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi.

He fought a battle alongside the Mughal General Bakht Khan. In this period his wife and seven of his comrades were martyred in Chandni Chowk. Her body was buried in the courtyard of the Fatehpuri Mosque in Delhi.

Local villagers offering a warm welcoime to Maulana Muhammad Usman Rahmani

After the defeat of the nationalistic forces in the war, when the Maulana was returning to Ludhiana, he stayed in village Shatrana. The British army also reached Shatrana chasing him. The local Muslim Rajput families of the village opposed the British tooth and nail and Maulana Shah managed to evade them by hiding in the nearby forests.

Maulana Muhammad Usman Rahmani, Deputy Shahi Imam of Punjab with Ludhianvi locals

During this stay in the village, Maulana Shah started imparting religious education in the village. After the situation had subsided, he left for his home in 1860. However, he passed away on the way, just a few miles away from the village.

His mausoleum is built on the main highway to the village Shatrana.

When Naib Shahi Imam Maulana Muhammad Usman Rahmani Ludhianvi reached the villages to pay homage to this historic mosque, he was received warmly by the non-Muslims of the village.

Speaking on the occasion, Naib Shahi Imam said that “today is a day of mercy and blessing as once again this historic place has been opened for the worshipers.”

He said that Maulana Shah is my ancestor. He said he is seeing the same passion and love of the people of this village as was experienced by Maulana  Shahji  160 years ago.

Naib Shahi Imam said that Imam-ul-Arfeen Hazrat Maulana Shah Abdul Qadir Ludhianvi and his companions not only offered prayers in this 300 year-old mosque of the village but this mosque was the centre of religious monastery and liberation activities during that time.

On this occasion, Qari Yaqub informed that a tube for water in the mosque and ablution room and accommodation for the elderly woman adjacent to the mosque is under construction.