The foundation of Jama Masjid was laid on a hillock by Shah Jahan in 1650. The mosque was the result of the efforts of over five thousand workers over a period of seven years. This is the largest mosque of India and is also one of the ten largest mosques of the world. About twenty five thousand people can pray here at a time. The greatest treasure of the mosque is, undoubtedly, the hair of the beard of Prophet Hazrat Mohammed, kept in the northeast corner of the white shrine. It also preserves his used chappal (slippers), a chapter of Koran taken from its original holy book, the canopy of his tombstone and the footprint of Muhammad on the stone.
