Lalmonirhat's 'Lost Mosque' With a 69 Hijri Inscription Draws Growing Curiosity

In Lalmonirhat, a border district in northern Bangladesh, a mosque believed to be around 1,400 years old — known as the 'Lost Mosque' and now called the Sahabaye Keram Mosque — has become a centre of curiosity and attraction for people across the country.

The mosque stands in Ramdas mouza of Panchgram union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, about a kilometre south of the Rangpur-Kurigram highway. For research into the early spread of Islam and ancient trade routes, the site holds special importance for scholars and travellers alike.

According to local sources, the area lay neglected for a long time as abandoned jungle. Because of wild animals and thick undergrowth, local people did not dare to go there easily.

Around 1983-84, while the jungle was being cleared, bricks engraved with flowers and other ancient ruins came to light.

On 10 Muharram in 1986, local resident Ayub Ali, while removing soil and jungle, recovered an ancient inscribed brick. The brick clearly bore, in Arabic, the words 'La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah' and the year 69 Hijri. Discussion about its antiquity then began among historians and local people.

The recovered ruins measure about 21 feet in length and 10 feet in width. Inside the mosque are the remains of four pillars, an ornately crafted mihrab and traces of an entrance. The ancient entrance lane is now preserved under glass. The historic brick and part of the inscription are kept on the mosque premises.

A new mosque has been built on the site of the old one. Over time, an 'As-Sahaba Complex' has grown up around it. A Hifz madrasa and a Qawmi madrasa operate there, with around two hundred students studying. Some shops have also sprung up nearby for visitors.

Various legends circulate about when the mosque was built. Local belief holds that some of the Companions of the Prophet, preachers of Islam's early era, or the famous Companion Hazrat Abu Waqqas (RA), laid its foundation while staying in the area on the way to China.

According to archaeologists, the Brahmaputra and Teesta basin is one of the oldest river basins in the world. Writings of Roman and German historians mention Arab and Roman merchants using the Brahmaputra basin as an international commercial waterway in ancient times, and travel between China via Sikkim and the Arab and Roman worlds along this route dates back to before the Christian era. Experts, however, say these claims need more intensive archaeological research and reliable evidence behind them.

Sirajul Islam, a visitor from Kurigram, said: 'I had long heard about the Hijri inscription and the history of the Companions' arrival. Seeing that glass-covered ancient lane and the historic bricks face to face was a truly different feeling. It feels wonderful to witness such an ancient Islamic heritage in our own country.' He came with his family and offered two rakats of nafl prayer there.

Tanvir Ahmed, a student from Lalmonirhat Sadar, said having such a relic in the Brahmaputra-Teesta basin is a matter of great pride for the region. People come every day from far and wide, and with a modern complex and good accommodation for visitors, he believes it could become a tourism and historical research centre of international standard.

The mosque's imam, Hafez Mawlana Rafiqul Islam, said several ancient bricks and the ornately made mihrab still survive as relics of the ancient mosque. Many visitors come every day from far away, offer prayers, and many also come with vows.

Local people hope that if the historic mosque, together with its complex, is developed into a more beautiful and modern form under donor organisations' plans, it will become one of the principal sightseeing places and historic pilgrimage centres for Muslims. Many visitors and tourists travel from far and wide every day to see the relic; both bus and train are popular ways of travelling from Dhaka to Lalmonirhat.