Sikh, Hindu Villagers Help Rebuild Mosques in India’s Punjab

Sikh, Hindu Villagers Help Rebuild Mosques in India’s Punjab
————————
Sikh and Hindu communities in India’s Punjab region are helping restore mosques and build new places of worship for local Muslims, in a grassroots effort to revive religious coexistence decades after the violence and displacement of the 1947 Partition.

In Jakhiwal village, 87-year-old Gajju Khan is awaiting the completion of a mosque funded largely by local Sikhs and Hindus. The project was made possible after Sikh villager Bibi Rajinder Kaur donated farmland for its construction, ensuring that the village’s 18 Muslim families would have a place to pray.

Similar initiatives have emerged in other villages. In Punawal, a Hindu family donated land for a mosque, while residents of different faiths contributed money and building materials. In Umarpura, Sikh villagers helped restore a Muslim shrine, reflecting longstanding ties between the communities.

According to Punjab’s current chief imam, Maulana Muhammad Usman Rehmani Ludhianvi, non-Muslim villagers have contributed to the establishment or restoration of more than 165 mosques over the past nine years, demonstrating how local communities continue to preserve traditions of mutual support despite wider social polarisation.