A mosque-madrasa located in Mymensingh is offering a unique educational experience to its students by offering classes on various religious scriptures in addition to Islam.
With over 1,200 students currently enrolled, the Boro Masjid is breaking barriers and promoting religious harmony through education.
Allama Abdul Haque, the current imam and khateeb of the mosque said the madrasa teaches a variety of religious texts, including Islam.
The mosque is believed to be built in the 1850s, on the banks of the Brahmaputra River with tin shed roofs.
In 1935, this mosque became a part of the Mussalman Wakf Validating Act, 1913 (Wakf means the permanent dedication by a person professing the Mussalman faith of any property for any purpose recognized by the Musslman law as religious, pious or charitable), under the Public Estate.
The mosque, built on almost 1.9 acres of land, has a three-storey Hafezi Madrasa, where currently 1,200 students are studying.
The mosque has two 125-foot high minarets and a dome made of china clay. The railings on the minarets and the dome are made of copper.
The length of the mosque is 105 feet and the width is 85 feet. There are 18 rows of columns on each floor of the mosque and at least 5,000 worshippers can pray together.
There are three entrances to enter the mosque and the main entrance is on the north side of the mosque, with two minarets on either side.
At the entrance of the mosque, there are two water stations for the worshippers to perform wudu. Inside the mosque, there are precious mosaic stones, beautiful tiles on the walls, and modern sound control systems.
From its establishment until 1940, the famous Egyptian scholar and Maulana Abdul Awal (R) served as the imam.
From 1941-1991, Maulana Foyzur Rahman (R) served as the imam and khateeb for a straight 56 years.
Since 1991 until now, the responsibilities of imam and khateeb are held by Allama Shayokh Abdul Haque.
Additionally, for the past 25 years, Shahidul Islam has been performing the duty of muezzin in the mosque.
He told Dhaka Tribune: "Some 5,000 worshippers can pray together. Every year during Ramadan, the crowd of worshippers increases. This year, on the first night of Ramadan, 4,000 worshippers participated in the Taraweeh prayers together. Previously, iftar was arranged here, but it has been suspended for the past two years."
