When Sai Baba built a mosque at Puttaparthi

And the Baba scrupulously honoured the trust reposed in him as he got the mosque built in six months. Later, he also threw it open. Now, as the “miracle man” of India battles for life, the Muslims of this abode of Sri Satya Sai recall the incident and acknowledge his role in fostering religious harmony.

The mosque was built from donation by a woman devotee from Iran. When she came to know that Puttaparthi did not have a proper mosque, she deposited the money for the purpose with the Baba.

It was here that Baba’s integrity came into picture. He called a group of Muslims and handed over the money to them so that the mosque could be built. But they refused to build the mosque themselves fearing misuse of the money. Instead, they requested the Baba to construct it. “We trusted him more than our co-religionists. Thankfully, he did not break our trust,” Mehboob Saheb, a former Chief Trustee of the mosque, told Deccan Herald.

Jamia Masjid, built in 1978, is on Sivalayam Street which, incidentally, is also Baba’s birthplace. Until then, the Muslims, mostly poor farmers, prayed in a hut which could accommodate only about 15 worshippers. But they could not afford to build a full-fledged mosque, though they had a site for the purpose.

G Allabakash, an employee of the Department of Posts, was hardly 16 when the event took place. When the mosque was inaugurated, he stood immediately next to the spiritual guru and posed for photographs. “I was very lucky to stand next to him,” Allabakash beams. The inauguration ceremony was attended by a former Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University, Hyderabad, and Noorullah Qadri, a cleric from Kurnool, among others.

Surprisingly, nobody objected to the Baba building the mosque and later inaugurating it. “He is a good person and has cordial relations with us. We considered it a blessing,” Mehboob added.

Like Puttaparthi, the locality has a thin population of Muslims with houses sparsely spread around.

When the mosque was built, there were hardly 75 houses of Muslims in the town. Now, the number has increased to around 500, partly because of the large number of Kashmiri traders. Despite Puttaparthi's reputation as the abode of the Baba, it has achieved what few towns in India could – harmony among followers of different religions.