January 01, 2026 06:01 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
New Year horror in Switzerland: Dozens feared dead in Crans-Montana bar explosion | Tobacco stocks crushed as govt slaps fresh excise duty from Feb 1 | Vodafone Idea shares explode 10% after surprise settlement and govt relief boost | No third party involved: India govt sources refute China’s Operation Sindoor ceasefire claim | Amit Shah blasts TMC over border fencing; Mamata fires back on Pahalgam and Delhi blast | 'A profound loss for Bangladesh politics': Sheikh Hasina mourns Khaleda Zia’s death | PM Modi mourns Khaleda Zia’s death, hails her role in India-Bangladesh ties | Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister Khaleda Zia passes away at 80 | India rejects Pakistan’s Christmas vandalism remarks, cites its ‘abysmal’ minority record | Minority under fire: Hindu houses torched in Bangladesh village

PM Modi gifts replica of Cheraman Juma Masjid to King of Saudi Arabia

| | Apr 04, 2016, at 12:33 am
New Delhi, Apr 3 (IBNS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gifted King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud a gold-plated replica of the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala.

Situated in Thrissur district, the Cheraman Juma Masjid is believed to be the first mosque built in India by Arab traders around 629 AD, and symbolic of active trade relations between India and Saudi Arabia since ancient times.

According to oral tradition, Cheraman Perumal was the Chera King and a contemporary of the Holy Prophet who went to Arabia and embraced Islam after meeting the Holy Prophet at Mecca.

"Some years later, he sent letters to his relatives and the ruling chieftains of Malabar through his friends Malik bin Dinar and Malik bin Habib who, along with their companions, were then given permission by the local rulers to build the mosque at Kodungallur," read a government statement.

The mosque has an ancient oil lamp that is always kept burning and believed to be over a thousand years old. People from all religions bring oil for the lamp as an offering.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.