English: Khair-ul-Manazil is a sort of an oxymoron as far as the monuments of Delhi are concerned, being one of the best preserved but least known of the city’s numerous mosques. Also serving as a madarsa (Islamic centre of learning), the mosque is still used for offering prayers. Built under the orders of Maham Aga, Akbar’s wet nurse, who was politically quite influential during Akbar’s early years as a ruler, when he was still a child, the mosque was constructed in 1526 AD. Though sometimes overshadowed by the much larger Old Fort complex on the opposite end of the road, it lies adjacent to Lal Darwaza, one of the gates to Sher Shah’s capital.

Literally meaning ‘the most exemplary of abodes’, the entry gate leads to a hexagonal water reservoir at the centre of the courtyard. The three walls have small rooms which would have served as the madarsa and boarding house for the pupils, and the wall on the west houses the mihrab. The construction is mostly red sandstone and lime. Interestingly, the mosque was built without a foundation, a rarity in large constructions even today.

The inscriptions are well preserved and detailed; in Persian, the name acts as a chronogram, giving out the date of construction to 969 hijri as per the ASI. There is an unverified incident associated with the place wherein a slave tried to kill Akbar but missed his mark due to the king’s short height, hurting another soldier in the process.

There is a constant debate on whether it was the mosque or the madarsa that was first established. The hauz or the reservoir is not functional anymore and is flocked by countless pigeons, as like most of the city’s monuments, water and grain are provided for the avifauna.

Some of the inscriptions are in a dilapidated state, and there is a lot of restoration work being carried on the immediate precincts. The monument is otherwise clean; especially the interiors around the mihrab are well maintained, perhaps due to mosque still being in use. The ASI tried to ban namaz in the mosque in 1992, but without success. The namazis also act as part time attendants, and the mornings and evenings see them in good numbers.