Sikh woman donates land for mosque in Fatehgarh Sahib village

FATEHGARH (Web Desk) - A 75-year-old Sikh woman has donated her land for the construction of a mosque in a village of Fatehgarh district in East Punjab, while Sikh and Hindu families have also contributed financially to the project.

According to the Indian media, this heartwarming gesture emerged from Jakhwali village, which has a predominantly Sikh population. The village is home to around 400 to 500 Sikh families, about 150 Hindu families and nearly 100 Muslim families.

Located about 55 kilometres from Chandigarh, the joint capital of East Punjab and the neighbouring state of Haryana, the village already has a gurdwara and a Shiva temple but had no mosque until now.

The land donor, Bibi Rajinder Kaur, said that Muslim residents had no mosque in the village and were forced to travel to neighbouring villages to offer prayers. She decided to donate five marlas of land so they could have a proper place for worship, adding that the gesture would bring happiness to the Muslim community.

Her grandson, Satnam Singh, said that Sikh, Hindu and Muslim families have lived in the village like brothers for generations, participating together in each other’s religious festivals. He added that the land has now been officially transferred in the name of the mosque committee, and the entire village contributed to the mosque’s construction without religious discrimination.

Maulana Usman Ludhianvi, the Shahi Imam of East Punjab, who laid the foundation stone of the mosque, said Punjab has long been known for such examples of religious harmony.