Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque (Colombo Red Mosque)

Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque (Colombo Red Mosque)

Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque , popularly known as Rathu Palliya , lit:  Red Mosque or Red Musjid (Sinhala: කොලඹ කොටුව රතු පල්ලිය, Tamil: கொழும்பு புறக்கோட்டை சம்மாங்கோடு பள்ளிவாசல்) is a mosque located at No. 228, Bankshall Street in Pettah in Colombo, Sri Lanka. History The mosque was designed in 1908 by H.L. Saibo Lebbe as a place of worship for the Bohra Muslim community of Indian origin living on the island (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009; Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016). The construction work of the mosque ended in 1909 (Rajapakshe, 2018). In the beginning, the mosque had a capacity of a congregation of about 1,500 devotees (Rajapakshe, 2018). In 1975, it was expanded allowing a congregation of about 10,000 devotees to pray at the mosque at any given time (Rajapakshe, 2018). Building The two-storied mosque building is the main attraction with an aesthetic value. It has been ornate with red and white coloured stripes, chequers and spirals giving a vivid appearance to the building. The …