Guru Ki Maseet

Guru ki Maseet, “the Guru's mosque”, stands at Sri Hargobindpur in Gurdaspur district, on a hill overlooking a bend of the Beas. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Guru Hargobind, who founded the town, “built along with the dharamsal a mosque for the Muslims”. Anna Bigelow, writing in The Tribune, dates it to the early 17th century and reports Dr Mohammad Rizwanul Haque of the Central Wakf Council saying the Guru meant Muslims to come and perform namaz there.

Key moments

• 1621: Guru Hargobind begins Sri Hargobindpur on land made over to him. A local landlord, Bhagwan Das, attacks and is killed, and Mughal troops sent by the faujdar of Jalandhar are repulsed on 28 September and 4 October 1621 (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism).
• After 1947: no Muslim population remains in the area, and the site is looked after by Nihangs. A Guru Granth Sahib is placed inside the mosque, which raises doubt about whether it is still a masjid.
• 1997: a survey by the Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative leads to repair under a UNESCO and UNDP-UNV “Culture of Peace” programme with help from the US-based Sikh Foundation. The encroachment is cleared, the hillside shored up, and the Guru Granth Sahib moved to a newly built room.
• 8 February 2001: Dr Haque meets Baba Kirtan Singh, head of the Nihang Taran Dal at Baba Bakala, who sent Nihangs to look after the site. They agree that it is a mosque and should remain one, that Muslims who come are free to pray, and that the Nihangs will keep up the building. Baba Kirtan Singh says it was established by the Guru and is as important to Sikhs as a gurdwara.

What it means today. The Encyclopaedia and The Tribune present the building as the Guru's own provision for Muslims, and the 2001 agreement keeps it a mosque in Sikh hands, held for a community no longer living nearby. Bigelow's 2001 report is the latest account opened for this page, so how often prayers are offered today is not recorded here.