Pettah 1944 Colombo Sri Lanka vintage photo Red Mosque Islam

The busy 2nd cross street of Pettah The towers and domes of Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque (Red Masjid) This is a vintage photo of the Red Mosque in Colombo Ceylon Sri Lanka Place of worship for local Muslim population who follow Islam 12.00 Can mail out for 2.00 postage Otherwise Flexible re pickup Elmsdale Road M4J 3M3 Donlands O'Connor East York Don Mills south exit off DVP Set amidst the crush of tiny and big shops in the hustle and bustle of Pettah with the Colombo harbour as its backdrop, there is a stunningly beautiful sanctuary to where once you step in, serenity and tranquillity enshroud you like a mantle. Unique are many of the facets of the Red Mosque from its very colour to the shape of its domes, the designs of its hand-painted bricks and the number of people who enter not only to pray but also to have a look at this beauty amidst the drab and overcrowded Pettah. The Red Mosque is known by many names – Rathu Palliya in Sinhala, Samman Kottu Palli in Tamil and its official Arabic name of Al Masjid Al Jamiul Alfar which adorns its entrance arch both in English and Arabic. People in their thousands poured into the Red Mosque on Friday, as Muslims across the country celebrated the Holy Prophet’s birthday on Tuesday. This is the most crowded mosque in Sri Lanka, with as many as 12,000 trooping in for the Friday congregational prayers. The old building and new, now cover 50,000 sq feet and have the capacity to accommodate as many as 16,000 worshippers. Several aspects of the Red Mosque make it one of its kind in the whole world, says the mosque’s Coordinator and Tour Guide M.M. Ruzni. Pomegranate is the shape of its main dome, with the subsequently-built domes, following suit, unlike the commonly-used onion shape, while even the colour is similar to what one finds when this fruit is cut open, he says, before taking us back down the corridors of time when South Indian Muslim traders congregated in these very streets between the 17th and 19th centuries. These traders needed to pray five times a day and how could they do so in a busy commercial area. This is what propelled them to buy this land and build the mosque.