Musa Khan Mosque, Dhaka

Rear view - south west end

Rear view

Central dome - inside

Mihrab

View inside - north end


View from south east

Signboard of the mosque

Grave of Musa Khan - north east of mosque

Building of Shahidullah Hall, Dhaka University

Placid water of the famous pond between Shahidullah Hall and Fazlul Huq Hall

Musa Khan, ruler of Bhati (East Bengal Delta), was the son and successor of Isa Khan Masnad-i-Ala, a powerful ruler of Bhati, descendant of an Afghan chieftain settled in Bengal in the reign of Nusrat Shah and carved out an independent principality in the Bhati region. He inherited a vast territory in 1599 , comprising a half of greater Dhaka and Comilla districts, almost the whole of greater Mymensingh district, and perhaps some portions of the greater districts of Rangpur, Bogra and Pabna. He possessed a formidable fleet of war-boats, and besides his capital Sonargaon, he had fortified posts at Khizrpur, Katrabo, Kadam Rasul, Sreepur and Vikramapur.

Musa Khan, with the assistance of other Bhuiyans (region lords), fought against the Mughal imperial forces for a decade to maintain his supremacy over East Bengal. But after defeats and the fall of his strongholds including Sonargaon (1611) he had to surrender at long last. He was taken to the vice-royal court at Jahangirnagar, subsequently having been treated kindly by Ibrahim Khan Fath-e-Jang (1617-1624) he served the viceroy faithfully and distinguished himself in the Mughal conquest of ‘Tippera’ and suppression of revolt in ‘Kamrupa’. Musa Khan died in Dhaka in 1623. He lies buried in the Bagh-i-Musa Khan, close to the Musa Khan Mosque situated within the Shahidullah Hall Compound of Dhaka University. (Ref: banglapedia).

The Mosque built on raised platform depicts ‘Shaistakhani style’ of architecture named after the noted Mughal General Shaista Khan who later became Subehdar of Bengal. It is believed that Munawar Khan, grandson of Musa Khan, built this mosque.

There is a signboard in the Mosque compound about this historical landmark. The mosque presently is in pretty deplorable shape and offers a shabby appearance. It needs renovation and restoration to elevate the image to match the elegant structures of Shahidullah Hall and Curzon Hall situated close to it in the heart of the city once known as Bagh-e-Badshahi, now Ramna, the persian name given by the Mughals.