Replica of Al Masjid al-Haram at Makkahm,at the Haj House

Hyderabad: A picture is worth a thousand words. But a model can be even more eloquent. Replica of the Al Masjid al-Haram (grand mosque) at Makkah displayed in the Haj House here is a big draw. Especially with the Haj season having commenced, pilgrims are finding it a big inspiration.It is a labour of love. And the architect of this model is a non-Muslim. It has taken Gatti Anil Kumar of Vishakapatnam three years of painstaking effort to come up with an exact copy of the ‘Kaba’, the large cube building, which Muslims face five times a day during prayer – no matter where they are.

The mosque around the Kaba is also reproduced in exact detail. The 8X10 ft model placed in a glass case has all the features of the grand mosque in great detail – right from the grey marble colour of the structure to the green tiled sloped canopies on the gates. The nine slender minarets, the Hijr-e-Aswad (black stone), Kiswa (black curtain covering the Kaba), station of Ibrahim, Safa-Marwa, Hateem, Zamzam well – are all captured in the right dimension. “I have spent endless hours making the model and am happy everyone is pleased about it”, says the polio-affected Anil.But, why the model of Al Masjid al-Haram? Many Muslims are poor to make the pilgrimage to Makkah and invalids too can’t go.

“I want them to see this model and get an idea of the mosque and Kaba, which they turn to everyday”, says Anil.A lot of study and research has gone into making of the mosque model. But mostly he has depended on the account of persons who have seen the mosque. The basic material used is soft teakwood. Anil’s father, Surya, who works in Vishakapatnam Port Trust, has funded the project from his meagre earnings.