Man builds glorious mosque for his family

DRIVEN by an intense faith in his Lord, Ashmead Ali single-handedly built a mosque for himself and his family.

Ali, no doubt, is convinced of Prophet Muhammed’s teaching that if one builds a mosque, God will construct a house for him in heaven. But the mosque Ali built, he made known to guests attending its formal opening last Friday night, is for himself and family. Others can attend, he added, but by invitation. It is a small, neatly-built diamond-shaped structure. This mosque is located in Ali’s yard in the sugar-cane rural village of St John’s — a few miles from San Fernando. What greeted the selected list of guests on arrival to Ali’s residence, was an illuminated replica of the glorious, though troubled Masjid-ul-Asqa in Jerusalem — muslim’s second holiest mosque. In fact, Ali’s mosque is a miniature Masjid-ul-Aqsa. A feature, famous of that mosque, is its suspending dome. Ali had the dome constructed like the dome of Masjid-ul-Aqsa — sheathed with brass plates.

The glow of coloured lights between an array of plants which neatly line the front of the mosque, lights up the face of the mosque’s wall. The lights are solar-powered and at nights, this mosque stands out as a beacon against a backdrop of undulating sugar cane fields. Ali did not reveal the financial cost of this noble project. The night of the formal opening saw invited guests rendering Qaseedas (Islamic songs), among them, Hajji Ralph Khan, public relations officer of ASJA. Ali dedicated the mosque to his parents — Hajji Tahir and Hajjin Amiran Ali. MP for Naparima Nizam Baksh unveiled a plague to commemorate the opening.