The Abbasi Mosque, or Derawar Mosque, and locally known as Jamia MasjidâÂÂeâÂÂAbbasi, is a mosque located close to Derawar Fort in Yazman Tehsil, in the Cholistan Desert in Bahawalpur District, in the Punjab, province of Pakistan. The mosque can accommodate 10,000 worshippers.
Abbasi Mosque was built by Nawab Bahawal Khan in 1849. It was built like the Shah Jahani Masjid in Delhi, using the same construction materials.
Abbasi Mosque features a , prayer hall and is crowned by three bulbous marble domes that dominate the surrounding dunes. Two octagonal minarets flank a triâÂÂarched façade carved in lowâÂÂrelief Qurüanic calligraphy, while marble jharoka balconies evoke a lateâÂÂMughal aesthetic.
Constructed entirely of polished marble, the building moderates desert heat and bathes its interior in diffused light that enters through pierced screens set high above the mihrab. The paved courtyard and prayer hall together can accommodate about tenÃÂ thousand worshippers, a capacity that once enabled the Bahawalpur nawabs to conduct state ceremonies beneath its domes.
Historically, the main entrance housed servants' quarters and the lower portion comprised a hostel and a library.