The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) trust – in charge of building a mosque in Ayodhya following last year's Supreme Court verdict – has unveiled a new design for the mosque complex will include a multi-speciality hospital, a community kitchen and a library.
The proposed mosque in Dhannipur village near Ayodhya will not adhere to the traditional architectural aesthetics of a mosque and will follow a futuristic design with the additional of a glass dome.
The mosque will have a capacity to hold 2,000 ‘namazis’ at a time, and the structure will be round-shaped.
IICF secretary Athar Hussain said, "the first phase of the project, for which the foundation stone is likely to be placed early next year, will have a hospital along with the mosque.”
Like Mosque, Hospital to Follow Futuristic Design
Professor SM Akhtar, the designer of the mosque, said that although the mosque will be bigger than the Babri Masjid, it will not look anything like the old structure.
He further added that the said that a hospital will take centre stage in the complex, adding that "It will serve humanity in the true spirit of Islam as taught by the Prophet in his last sermon 1,400 years ago."
Just like the mosque, the hospital will not be a usual concrete structure but will be in sync with the architecture of the mosque, replete with calligraphy and Islamic symbols.
"It will house a 300-bed speciality unit, where doctors will work with missionary zeal to provide free treatment to the ailing," he said, adding that "the mosque will be self-efficient for power as it is designed based on solar energy and a natural temperature maintenance system.”
Corporate Funding for Hospital
The community kitchen will serve good quality meals twice a day to cater to the needs of nourishment of the poor people living nearby, he added.
“We can establish a nursing and paramedic college to provide human resources to the hospital. We can manage doctors from local resources from Faizabad, and for specialized needs in terms of critical surgeries, we have a group of doctor friends in prominent government and private institutions who want to offer their services.”Professor SM Akhtar
Meanwhile, the IICF secretary Athar Hussain said, "We are looking forward to corporate funding for the hospital. There are many donors who are willing to contribute when we have 80G approval. After that, we will go for FCRA and seek foreign funds from Muslims of Indian origin."
How the Trust Was Formed
The state government has allotted a five-acre land in Dhannipur village in Sohawal Tehsil of Ayodhya as per the Supreme Court directive.
Hussain said that the Trust chose 26 January 2021, for laying the foundation stone of the Ayodhya mosque as on this day the Constitution came into effect over seven decades ago.
The Supreme Court had, on 9 November 2019, paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a ‘prominent’ place in the town in Uttar Pradesh.
The IICF was set up by the Sunni Waqf Board six months ago to build the mosque.
(With inputs from IANS)
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