History
Id Gah Mosque was commissioned by Babur the ruler of the Mughal empire before being renovated on a large scale by King Abdur Rahman Khan in 1893 or before. Another story relates to Jahangir being the original builder of this mosque,using local quarries and materials as Kabul was a key mughal city works of art were often commissioned here.
Afghan history records indicate that in 1901, the then Emir of Afghanistan, the head of the state, publicly performed the priestly functions by celebrating the Id at Id Gah Mosque. The chief priest of Kabul immediately proclaimed Habibullah to be the successor of Mohamed, whereupon the Emir of Afghanistan delivered an address inspired by an "intolerant ecclesiasticism". Among other things the Amir passed a dictum that a fine of up to ten Kabuli Rupees would be levied on all who did not offer prayers in the mosques. A register of the daily attendance of all individuals was to be kept in various places and a “box of justice” was to be kept into which secret reports could be dropped reporting on people who had not obeyed this dictum of compulsory attendance for religious prayers at the mosques.
In 1914-15, the bitter feud between Britain and Afghanistan assumed the proportions of a holy war or jihad, even though the new ruler Emir Habibullah had initially opposed this approach of the mullahs. After his ascension to the throne in 1919, he aligned with the mullahs to attack British bases. Before he launched a war on May 15, 1919, the Emir made a speech at the Id Gah Mosque in Kabul urging his countrymen to wage jihad against the British.
| “ | The treacherous and deceitful English Government…twice shamelessly attacked our beloved country and plunged their filthy claws into the region of the vital parts of our dear country which is the burial ground of our ancestors and the abode of the chastity of our mothers and sisters and intended to deprive us of very existence, of the safety of our honour and virtue, of our liberty and happiness, and of our national dignity and nobility…It became incumbent upon your King to proclaim jehad in the path of God against the perfidious English Government. God is great. God is great. God is great. | ” |
After the Third Anglo-Afghan War, on August 19, 1919, Emir Amanullah announced Afghanistan's independence from this mosque.
On September 21, 2010 a demonstration took place at the mosque.
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