Eidgah Built by Space Scientist

Tumkur Eidgah

Dr.Mazhar Naqvi

The Tumkur Eidgah is perhaps the only of its kind in the world. The Eidgah is unique as it has been erected by an Indian-American space scientist as a gift to the people of his home town. Designed and built by Dr. Nazeer Ahmed, who has worked with NASA on several space missions and was also instrumental in the engineering of the moon land rover for the Apollo mission, Eidgah symbolizes the tremendous faith of the space scientist in mystic interpretations of Islam. It also reflects the complete persona of its builder and his great attachment to his native place.   

While designing the Eidgah, the scientist kept in mind that its subtleties go beyond the usual structure of existing Eidgahs. As a result, a visitor finds the divine name of Allah Almighty built into the structure when he reads its reflection from left to right. The structure also indicates that the world is illusory and is just a reflection of the promised heavens. Another significant feature of Eidgah is that each of its smaller minarets is nineteen feet high from the ground. There are six minarets and if their numbers are multiplied by 19, the figure of 114 emerges. Indicating the total number of ‘Surahs’ in the holy Quran. Further, straight lines drawn from the apex of the minarets intersect where the word "Hu" is inscribed in a red circle. The subtended angle of 112.4 degrees is twice the natural flow angle of the earth. It reminds the devotees that one day they will have to return to Earth to be raised on the Day of Judgment.

The space scientist had discussed this  flow angle as a solution to a Legendre polynomial of the second order while presenting a paper at the fourth National Congress of Applied Mechanics at Harvard University, way back in 1972. He included it in the design of Eidgah, for ‘Hu’ is the abstract divine pronoun for Allah, most exalted, merciful and beneficent. The circle is a constant reminder of  "two bows length or less" wrapped around that shrouded Prophet Muhammad when he stood in divine presence during Shab-E-Meraj. The entire structure is enclosed in a "golden rectangle" where the ratio of the width of the base to the height of the two large minarets is 1.618. The Eidgah complex has a capacity to accommodate about 12,000 devotees and Dr. Nazeer has also constructed a graveyard adjacent to it.

A look at the life of Dr. Nazeer only confirms that he strives to meet all the expectations of Allah from a true believer. He owns 14 patents in US , makes money but dole out it to support the  studies of economically weak children from the earnings. His personality just not includes academic excellence but also traits like humility, humbleness, craving for helping needy and a strong desire to remain attached to his roots. His works and deeds have earned him so much popularity among the citizens of Tumkur, a city about 70 kms from Bangalore that scores of people would volunteer to take a visitor to his home next to Old Bar Lane if he asks about him. The scientist who is simply ‘Nazeer Saab’ for people Tumkur, has offered financial assistance to over 10,000 students drawn from all communities to enable them finish their studies. His philanthropic deeds give a message to the believers that charity should not be just restricted to the day of Eid ul-Fitr but be an ongoing process. The love for country has brought him back to Tumkur. He contested election and won also from Tumkur in 1978 with a thumping margin. He did not find politics as he had perceived and soon turned disenchanted being averse to corruption and unable to work for social and economic uplift of people –the main reason behind his decision to join politics. The disorientation from politics propelled him to test skills in Sufism. He has visited shrines of Turkish Sufis several times and has turned him into a historian with deep interest in Islamic studies.( References available on request)