Quwwat al-Islam Mosque with its five corbelled arched screens

The mosque is in ruins today but indigenous corbelled arches, floral motifs, and geometric patterns can be seen among the Islamic architectural structures. To the west of the Quwwat ul-Islam mosque is the tomb of Iltutmish which was built by the monarch in 1235.

IMAM ZAMIN'S TOMB, QUTAB COMPLEX, NEW DELHI

Imam Zamin's tomb next to the Alai Darwaza.
Tomb of Imam Muhammad Ali, or Imam Zamin, stand on a raised courtyard, next to the Alai Darwaza. According to an inscription of the eastern entrance to the tomb, Imam Zamin was a saint from Turkestan, who settled in India in around 1500, during the Sikander Lodhi. He built his tomb during his lifetime, and was buried here after his death in 1539 CE. The sandstone structure has dome on an octagonal base, while its interior is finished in polished white plaster, and contains fine, perforated jalis, or screens common in Lodhi period architecture.

Imam Zamin's Maqbara

Interior of the tomb

ALAI DARWAZA (ALAI GATE), QUTAB COMPLEX, NEW DELHI

The Alai Darwaza (Alai Gate) is the main gateway from southern side of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque. It was built by the first Khilji Sultan of Delhi, Ala-ud-din Khilji in 1311 CE, who also added a court to the pillared to the eastern side. The domed gateway is decorated with red sandstone and inlaid white marble decorations, inscriptions in Naskh script, latticed stone screens and showcases the remarkable craftsmanship of the Turkish artisans who worked on it. This is the first building in India to employ Islamic architecture principles in its construction and ornamentation
The Slave dynasty did not employ true Islamic architecture styles and used false domes and false arches, this makes the Alai Darwaza, the earliest example of first true arches and true domes in India. It is considered to be one of the most important buildings built in the Delhi sultanate period. With its pointed arches and spearhead of fringes, identified as lotus buds, it adds grace to the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque to which it served as an entrance.

Plaque at Alai Darwaza

Interior of Alai Darwaza

Interior of Alai Darwaza, resembling Timber ornamentation, Qutb complex.

ALAI MINAR, QUTAB COMPLEX, NEW DELHI

Alauddin Khilji started building the Alai Minar, after he had doubled the size of Quwwat ul-Islam mosque. He conceived this tower to be two times higher than Qutb Minar in proportion with the enlarged mosque. The construction was however abandoned, just after the completion of the 24.5 meter high first storey core; soon after death of Ala-ud-din in 1316 CE, and never taken up by his successors of Khilji dynasty. The first story of the Alai Minar, a giant rubble masonry core, still stands today, which was evidently intended to be covered with dressed stone later on. Noted Sufi poet and saint of his times, Amir Khusro in his work, Tarikh-i-Alai, mentions Aladdin's intentions to extend the mosque and also constructing another minar.

Ala-ud-din conceived a very ambitious construction programme when he decided to build the second tower of victory when he returned in triumph from his Deccan campaign. However, the Sultan died before even the first storey was finished and the project was abandoned. Ala-ud-din, felt compelled to increase even further the size of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque. His scheme called for increasing the size of the enclosure four times, providing ceremonial entrance gateways on each side, and a great minar, twice the size of the Qutb. This is the unfinished base of the mammoth tower begun by Ala-ud-din Khilji intended to give competition to Qutb Minar.

COLLEGE & TOMB OF ALAUDDIN KHAL JI, QUTAB COMPLEX, NEW DELHI

At the back of the complex, southwest of the mosque, stands an L-shaped construction, consisting of Alauddin Khilji's tomb dating ca 1316 CE, and a madarsa, an Islamic seminary built by him. Khilji was the second Sultan of Delhi from Khilji dynasty, who ruled from 1296 to 1316 CE.
The central room of the building, which has his tomb, has now lost its dome, though many rooms of the seminary or college are intact, and since been restored. It was the first example in India, of a tomb standing alongside a madarsa. Near by stands the Alai Minar, an ambitious tower, he started constructing to rival the Qutub Minar, though he died when only its first storey was built and its construction abandoned thereafter. It now stands, north of the mosque.

Ala-ud-din Khilji, real name Ali Gurshap; (died 1316) was the second ruler of the Khilji dynasty in India. He reigned from 1296 to 1316.
His historic attack on Chittor in 1303 AD, after hearing of the beauty of queen of Chittor, Rani Padmini, the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh and the subsequent story has been immortalized in the epic poem Padmavat, written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in the Awadhi language in the year 1540.

Tomb of Alauddin Khilji, Qutb complex, Delhi.

Ala-ud-din Khalji was the nephew and son in law of Jalal-ud-din. His surname is Khilji in Dari/Farsi and Arabic documents, but the original Pashtu is Ghilzai. The obvious difference in spelling and pronunciation arises in lack of letters between Arabic/Dari and Pashtu. At first, Jalal-ud-din appointed Ala-ud-Din as the governor of Kara near the city of Allahabad. In 1296 Ala-ud-Din killed his uncle. But Malika Jahan, the widow of Jalal-ud-din, put her younger son Rukn-ud-din Khilji on the throne. Ala-ud-din quickly marched on Delhi from Kara. He entered Delhi with his uncle's head on a pike and on October 3, 1296, proclaimed himself the King of Delhi. Arkali Khan, Jalal-ud-din's older son, and Rukn-ud-din were blinded. Malika Jahan was imprisoned.
Alauddin died in January 1316, of edema. It is believed that his lieutenant Malik Naib hastened his death. His tomb and madarsa dedicated to him, exists at the back of Qutb complex, Mehrauli, in Delhi.

Inscription

Alauddin's Madrasa

Alauddin's Madrasa, Qutb complex, Mehrauli, which also has his tomb to the south.

ILTUTMISH'S TOM (CLOSE TO QUTAB MINAR), MEHRAULI, NEW DELHI

Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, or Altamash (r. 1211 - 1236) was the third Muslim Turkic sultan of the Sultanate of Delhi and the third ruler of the Mamluk dynasty (or Slave dynasty) (died 1236). He was a slave of Qutub-ud-din-Aybak and later became his son-in-law and close lieutenant. He was the Governor of Badaun when he deposed Qutub-ud-din's successor Aram Shah and acceeded to the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in 1211. He remained the ruler until his death in May 1, 1236.
He built the Hauz-i-Shamsi reservoir in Mehrauli in 1230 AD, which also has Jahaz Mahal standing on its edge, used by later Mughal Emperors. In 1231, he built Sultan Ghari, he built the mausoleum of his eldest son, Prince Nasiru'd-Din Mahmud, which was the first Islamic Mausoleum in Delhi. His own tomb exists, within the Qutb complex in Mehrauli, Delhi.

Iltutmish's mausoleum

Iltutmish's Tomb close to Qutub Minar, Delhi
In A.D. 1236 Iltumish died, and buried with the Qutb complex in Mehrauli.Iltutmish's eldest son, Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, had died in 1229 while governing Bengal as his father's deputy. The surviving sons of the Sultan were incapable of the task of administration. In A.D. 1236 Iltutmish, on his death-bed, nominated his daughter Raziya as his heiress. But the nobles of the court were too proud to bow their heads before a woman, and disregarding the deceased Sultan's wishes, raised to the throne his eldest surviving son, Rukn-ud-din Firuz.The death of Iltutmish was followed by years of political instability at Delhi. During this period, four descendants of Iltutmish were put on the throne and murdered. Order was re-established only after Balban became the Naib or Deputy Sultan and later on Sultan in A.D. 1265.

The intricate interior of the Tomb of Iltutmish.

The central chamber is a 9 mt sq. and has squinches, suggesting the existence of a dome, which has since collapsed. The main cenotaph, in whilte marble is place on a raised platform in the centre of the chamber. The facade is known for its ornate carving, both at the entrance and the interior walls. The interior west wall has a prayer niche, mihrab decorated with marble, and a rich amalgamation of Hindu motives into Islamic architecture, such as bell-and-chain, tassel, lotus, diamond emblems.

BARBER' TOMB, NIZAMUDDIN EAST, DELHI, INDIA

Barber' tomb in the Humayun's Tomb Complex in Delhi, India is believed to be built in the 16th century. This small , square, sandstone tomb, comissioned by Akbar, is raised on a plinth within the garden of Humayun's tomb in eastern Delhi. It is built in the multipartite vault form, with four large intersecting ribs creating a central domed area, four squinches, and four rectangular spaces. The tomb is covered by a double dome with four chattris. It is popularly known as the "Barber's tomb", although the true identity of the occupant is unknown.

Barber's Tomb inscription

Barber's Tomb ka Maqbara

Within Barber's tomb , there are two graves inside it inscribed with verses from the Quran. One of the grave is inscribed with the figure 999, which may stand for the "Hijra" year corresponding to 1590-91. Within Barber's tomb are the ornamental cenotaph of one male and one female.

HUMAYUN'S TOMB, NIZAMUDDIN EAST, DELHI, INDIA

Humayun's tomb is a complex of buildings built as the Mughal Emperor Humayun's tomb, commissioned by Humayun's wife Hamida Banu Begum in 1562 CE, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, a Persian architect. It is located in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, India, close to the Dina-panah citadel also known as Purana Qila, that Humayun founded in 1533. It was also the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale.

The complex encompasses the main tomb of the Emperor Humayun, which houses the graves of his wife, Hamida Begum, and also Dara Shikoh, son of the later Emperor Shah Jahan, as well as numerous other subsequent Mughals, including Emperor Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Rafi Ul-Darjat, Rafi Ud-Daulat and Alamgir II.

The complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It represented a leap in Mughal architecture, and together with its accomplished Charbagh garden, typical of Persian gardens, but never seen before in India, it set a precedent for subsequent Mughal architecture. It is seen as a clear departure from the fairly modest mausoleum of his father, the first Mughal Emperor, Babur, called Bagh-e Babur (Gardens of Babur) in Kabul (Afghanistan). Though the latter was the first Emperor to start the tradition of being buried in a paradise garden. Modelled on Gur-e Amir, the tomb of his ancestor and Asia's conqueror Timur in Samarkand, it created a precedent for future Mughal architecture of royal mausolea, which reached its zenith with the Taj Mahal, at Agra.

The site was chosen on the banks of Yamuna river, due to its proximity to Nizamuddin Dargah, the mausoleum of the celebrated Sufi saint of Delhi, Nizamuddin Auliya, who was much revered by the rulers of Delhi, and whose residence, Chilla Nizamuddin Auliya lies just north-east of the tomb. In later Mughal history, the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar took refuge here, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, along with three princes, and was captured by Captain Hodson before being exiled to Rangoon. At the time of the Slave Dynasty this land was under the 'KiloKheri Fort' which was capital of Sultan Kequbad, son of Nasiruddin (1268-1287).

View from the West Gate

After his death on January 20, 1556, Humayun's body was first buried in his palace in Delhi, thereafter it was taken to Sirhind, in Punjab by Khanjar Beg, there in 1558, it was seen by his son, then Mughal Emperor, Akbar, who also visited the final resting place of his father, when it was about to be completed in 1571.
The tomb of Humayun was built by the orders of Hamida Banu Begum, Humayun's widow starting in 1562, nine years after his death, at a cost of 15 lakh rupees (1.5 million) at the time. At many places she is confused with another royal, Haji Begum, though according to Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th century detailed document written during the reign of Akbar, Haji Begum was the daughter of brother of Humayun's mother, and was later in life was put in charge of the tomb.