For the Salahuddin brothers, building this new Lahore mosque was more than just a passion project: it was a desire to continue in the footsteps of their Kashmiri forefathers. It was also an eponymous tribute to their late father, Mian Salahuddin. “The first structure that our ancestors built in front of their home, around the 1850s in the Walled City of Lahore, was a mosque,” recalls Iqbal Salahuddin, who led the project with his brothers Asad and Yousaf. “Building the mosque was like keeping a family tradition alive.”
Set on a 650-square-metre site in a gated community, the Mian Salahuddin Community Mosque has taken around two decades to complete, shaped as much by poetry and spiritual reflection as by architectural design. A poem by Salahuddin’s grandfather Allama Iqbal, entitled Masjid-e-Qurtuba, offered the deepest guidance. “I believe that the architecture of traditional older mosques connects one with the divine far more than modern designs,” Salahuddin says of the building’s inspiration. “It symbolises the presence of the worshipper and the opening of one’s heart.” Quoting a verse from his grandfather’s poetry, he underscores how architecture was once conceived as devotion. “Yet only that work of art is eternal, the one created by a man of God.”
The mosque was built using centuries-old construction methods. Architect Taimoor Khan Mumtaz worked with his father – the renowned Kamil Khan Mumtaz, who is also a pioneer in the profession – to ensure that the design remained rooted in tradition. The duo is known for its work in reviving the architectural heritage of the subcontinent, so the approach here grounded the building in traditional practice, relying solely on burnt brick set in a mixture of hydraulic and slaked lime mortar. The materials were sourced locally from Patoki, Kasur and the Salt Range. “We didn’t use any cement because these factories are some of the biggest polluters in the world,” explains Khan Mumtaz, who instead used lime, which has a longer lifespan and “has been a common practice in the region for hundreds of years.”
The mosque’s surfaces are layered with time-honoured detailing, including pucca qila (burnished fine lime plaster), frescoes, stucco tracery, cut brickwork, mosaics and painted glazed tiles, moulded terracotta and brasswork. The frescoes and calligraphy draw inspiration from Lahore’s 17th-century Begum Shahi Mosque, while artisans from Pakistan, Spain and Iran collaborated on the intricate decorative work.
“The project was at a standstill for quite a few years until we found ceramic tile makers in [the city] trained in Islamic tile-making,” says Salahuddin. Despite setbacks with the process and materials, today the Lahore mosque stands complete. For its patron, its meaning is simple. “Through the mosque, I hope that people receive a sense of peace and solace, feel its deeper meaning and a connection with God.”
