Located in Hajiganj of Chandpur district, the artistically crafted Hajiganj Historical Grand Mosque is one of the largest mosques in the subcontinent in terms of size. Haji Ahmad Ali Patwari established Hajigonj Boro Masjid in 1337. About 10,000 Muslims can pray together in this huge mosque with an area of about 28,400 square feet. The largest congregation of Jumatul Bidaya in Bangladesh is held in this mosque. The 6th largest mosque in Bangladesh has a spectacular minaret about 188 feet high.
Hajiganj was gradually developed from a shop founded by Haji Moniruddin (RA), the last man of the family of Bujurg Kamel, named Makim Uddin (RA) around the eleventh century. The founder and waqif of Hajiganj’s historic big mosque Haji Ahmad Ali Patwari (RA) was the great-grandson of Manai Haji (RA).
Starting from a one-story mosque made of straw, the mosque gradually evolved into a straw-roofed mosque and later a tin-roofed mosque. Later on the 17th Ashwin of Bengali 1337 Hazrat Maulana Abul Farah Jainpuri (RA) laid the foundation stone of the paved mosque. When the construction work of the Hajiganj historical mosque was completed, the call to prayer was given on 10 Agrahayan 1344 Banga AD in the main mosque of Marmar Stone. Many dignitaries including the then Chief Minister of Undivided Bengal AKM Fazlul Haque, Nawab Mosharraf Hussain, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, and Nawabzada Khawaja Nasrullah were present in that historic Friday prayer.
How to go
Chandpur-bound buses depart from Dhaka’s Sayedabad at regular intervals throughout the day. Or you can go by train. MV Sonartari, MV Taqwa, MV Bogdadiya, MV Meghna Rani, MV Al Borak, MV Eagle, MV Rafarf, MV Tutul, etc. are notable among the launches operating on the Dhaka-Chandpur route. Fares from Dhaka to Chandpur in these launches range from Tk 100 to Tk 2000 depending on the category. The launch takes 3 to 3 and a half hours from Dhaka.
If you board a bus going to Hajiganj from Chandpur’s Taltala bus stand, you can get off the bus in front of the mosque if you tell the bus helper the name of the big mosque.