LAHORE:Iqbal Salahuddin has a
passion for Islamic architecture in Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Iran and the
Subcontinent. So when building a mosque in memory of his father, he decided to
borrow from them.
“I
wanted to incorporate similar colour themes here,” he says, pointing to the
hues of blue in the under-construction mosque at a one-kanal site in Salli
Town, which is named after his father Mian Salahuddin, the son-in-law of Allama
Iqbal.
“The
light sky blue signifies the mercy of God and it is used heavily in early
Islamic scripture,” says Salahuddin. Dark blue, the colour of the tiles used
for the lower half of the verandah walls, signifies mysticism in Islam, he
says. A golden and black arch (mehrab) signalling the direction of the Kaaba is
inspired by the tomb of Bayazid Bastami in Iran.
There
are inspirations from closer to home too. The floral frescoes are modelled on
Masjid Wazir Khan and Masjid Bibi Khanum. Architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz, an
authority on Mughal architecture, designed the building.
