MosqueFree entry

Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

#3of 10 places to visit in AhmedabadAhmedabad, Gujarat

Also known as Sidi Saiyyed ni Jali · Sidi Sayed Mosque · Jali Mosque

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Opening hours: 06:00–20:00. Entry is free. Allow 30 min. Best time: Early morning.

Updated 16 September 2026 · Compiled by Traveliac, AI-assisted · 7 min read

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Photo: Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Opening hours: 06:00–20:00
Entry fee: Free
Time needed: 30 min
Best time of day: Early morning
Best months: Oct – Mar
Address: Lal Darwaza, near Relief Road, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380001

About Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

At a congested intersection near the Lal Darwaza on the eastern edge of central Ahmedabad, set within a small garden compound that offers perhaps 40 square metres of distance from the surrounding traffic, stands a mosque whose rear wall contains two windows that constitute some of the finest stone-lattice carving produced anywhere in the medieval world. The Sidi Saiyyed Mosque was completed in 1572 CE, in the last year of the Gujarat Sultanate before it was absorbed into the Mughal Empire. Its builders had roughly twelve months left before the entire political order that had made their work possible was erased. What they produced in those final commissions — particularly the ten jali screens set into the qibla wall and the rear arcade — is a visual argument that craftsmanship can survive political catastrophe by many centuries.

Best time of day: Early morning. 07:00–09:00 for soft light penetrating the jali screens from the east, casting intricate palm-tree lattice shadows across the mosque's interior floor. Alternatively, late afternoon (16:00–17:30) when westering light hits the exterior stone directly. Midday light is harsh and flattens the three-dimensional relief of the jali carving.

Sidi Saiyyed Mosque timings

Sidi Saiyyed Mosque opens at 06:00 and closes at 20:00. It keeps the same hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Opening hours: 06:00–20:00; Mon–Sun 06:00–20:00
Closed on: Open every day

Mon–Sun	06:00–20:00

Good to know: Open year-round. Access to the interior may be restricted during Friday prayers and on major Islamic holidays (Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha). External viewing of the jali screens from the road is always possible.

Opening hours compiled from public records; this place lists no official website, last updated 16 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Sidi Saiyyed Mosque ticket price

Entry fees for Sidi Saiyyed Mosque
Ticket	Price
Indian visitors	Free
Foreign visitors	Free
Children	Free
Camera	Free

Entry is free. No camera fee. The mosque is an active place of worship; Friday midday prayers may restrict non-Muslim access to the interior for approximately 45–60 minutes around 12:30–13:30. The rear latticed windows (jalis) that face the exterior lane are always visible from outside the mosque boundary without entry.

Prices compiled from public records; this place lists no official website, last updated 16 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Best time to visit Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

Quiet
Moderate
Busy

06:00–09:00
Early morningBest time to go
The mosque compound is quiet. Morning worshippers are present for Fajr prayer but the space is calm. Eastern light through the jali screens at this hour is exceptional.
Quiet
09:00–12:00
Morning sightseeing
Tour groups from hotels begin arriving. The compound has limited standing space, so a group of 20 fills it. Midweek mornings are quieter than weekends.
Moderate
12:00–14:00
Friday prayer window
On Fridays, the mosque fills for Jumu'ah prayers and non-Muslim access to the interior is restricted 12:00–14:00. The exterior lane and garden viewing of the screens remain accessible.
Busy
14:00–16:30
Afternoon
Post-lunch lull. The jali screens are in shadow from the interior side at this hour, making exterior viewing from the south lane the preferred angle.
Moderate
16:30–20:00
Late afternoon and evening
Traffic outside the compound picks up but the interior is quiet. Westering light hits the exterior stone facade. The mosque stays open until approximately 20:00.
Quiet

History of Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

The mosque was commissioned by Sidi Saiyyed, an Abyssinian nobleman and slave-general in the court of the last Gujarat Sultanate ruler Shams ud-Din Muzaffar Shah III. The construction was completed in 1572 CE, the same year the Mughal Emperor Akbar's forces under his general Khan-i-Azam Mirza Aziz Koka defeated and annexed the Gujarat Sultanate. The timing makes the mosque a peculiar historical object: a building whose patron would have known, as the stone was being carved, that the political dispensation funding his status was collapsing.

The mosque follows the standard Sultanate-period plan: a rectangular prayer hall open on three sides, with five arched bays and a three-domed roof structure. The structural vocabulary is orthodox Indo-Islamic. What is extraordinary are the ten stone jali screens set into the arches — five in the rear wall and five in the side aisles — each one a unique design. The two most celebrated are the rear pair, which depict a sinuously intertwined tree with roots emerging from a rocky base, branches spreading to fill the entire arch with a palm frond and scroll pattern of extraordinary complexity. These two screens are executed in creamy-white Dhrangadhra limestone (sometimes described as a fine Makrana-adjacent stone), and their surface is worked to a depth and delicacy that allows light to pass through them while the pattern retains structural rigidity.

The design tradition these screens belong to is the same Solanki-derived stone-carving lineage visible at Adalaj Vav — the craftsmen were almost certainly from the same hereditary workshop communities of Sompura and Suthar carvers who had worked every major Gujarati building commission for five centuries. The Sultanate's contribution was the architectural frame; the craft language was continuous.

The mosque was renovated and the surrounding compound improved in the mid-20th century. The institution of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) adopted the jali image as its logo in 1962 — an endorsement that has made the Sidi Saiyyed jali screen one of the most reproduced images in Indian institutional design.

Rules & etiquette at Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

The mosque is an active place of worship and the primary obligation of visitors is to respect that function. Remove footwear before entering the prayer hall; a shoe rack is provided at the main entrance gate. Women are advised to carry a headscarf; it is not always required but is expected at Friday prayers and during Ramadan. Men should ensure knees are covered.

Friday midday prayers (approximately 12:30–13:30 IST) restrict non-Muslim access to the prayer hall interior. The exterior viewing of the rear jali screens from the lane is always possible and is actually the better vantage point for photography — the full scale and depth of the lattice is visible from outside without the overhead shadows cast by the mosque's interior roof.

Photography is generally permitted; be discreet during active prayer. No tripods inside the prayer hall. Flash photography against the jali screens is destructive over time and also ineffective — the screens photograph best in natural transmitted light without any artificial fill. Do not touch the jali screens; the limestone surface, despite its apparent thickness, is sensitive to oil from hands and the pattern edges are sharper than they appear.

Tout pressure is moderate at the compound entrance. Anyone offering to 'take you to the rooftop for a better view' or 'show you the hidden second mosque' is running an improvised commission scheme — there is no accessible rooftop and no second mosque attached to this site.

Tips for visiting Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

1
The mosque is compact — the prayer hall is approximately 15 by 20 metres — and can be thoroughly examined in 30 minutes by a focused visitor or 60 minutes by anyone photographing systematically. The two rear jali screens are the primary draw, but the lateral screens in the side aisles repay close attention; each has a distinct geometric pattern ranging from interlocking hexagons to arabesque floral scrollwork.
2
The best camera position for the famous 'tree of life' jali screens is from the exterior lane on the south side of the mosque, where the screens are backlit by the sky and the interlocking branches read most clearly. A 50mm equivalent focal length captures a single screen cleanly. Ultra-wide lenses introduce distortion that misrepresents the screens' proportions.
3
From Ahmedabad Junction station (ADI), the mosque is reachable by auto-rickshaw in 15–20 minutes; typical negotiated fare ₹60–90. The Lal Darwaza BRTS stop is 200 metres from the mosque; BRTS buses from the station precinct run every 5–10 minutes and cost ₹10. The walled city's pol network is within comfortable walking distance — the Bhadra Fort and Teen Darwaza are 600 metres north, making this an easy first or last stop on a walled-city walking itinerary.
4
If combining with the Adalaj Stepwell on the same day, the mosque makes a logical morning stop (it is closer to the city centre and opens early) before heading north to Adalaj. The reverse order works equally well if you are arriving from Gandhinagar.

How to reach Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

The red star is Sidi Saiyyed Mosque; the numbered pins are the 7 nearest places in our guides, each showing its rank in its city. Tap a pin for details.

Lal Darwaza, near Relief Road, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380001Directions in Google Maps

From Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (AMD)
₹300–480
14 km · 30–45 min
From Ahmedabad Junction Railway Station (ADI)
₹60–90
2.5 km · 15–20 min
From Ahmedabad Junction Railway Station (ADI)
₹10
2.5 km · 15–20 min
From Sabarmati Ashram
₹90–130
7 km · 20–30 min
Negotiated

Nearest airport

From Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad (AMD)

approximately 14 km northwest

Nearest railway station

From Ahmedabad Junction (ADI)

approximately 2.5 km northwest

Sidi Saiyyed Mosque FAQs

What is the jali and why is it famous?

The jali is a carved stone lattice screen set into the arches of the mosque's rear and side walls. The two most celebrated screens depict an elaborate intertwined tree with sinuous branches and palm fronds — a design of such structural delicacy that the stone appears almost translucent in transmitted light. These screens are executed in fine-grained Dhrangadhra limestone and represent the apex of Gujarat Sultanate-era stone-lattice carving. The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad adopted this image as its institutional logo in 1962.

Can non-Muslims visit the mosque?

Yes. The mosque is open to all visitors outside of active prayer times. Shoes must be removed at the entrance and modest dress is required. Women should carry a head covering. On Fridays, access to the prayer hall interior is restricted approximately 12:00–14:00 during Jumu'ah prayers, though the exterior jali screens are visible from the surrounding lane at all times.

Who was Sidi Saiyyed?

Sidi Saiyyed was an Abyssinian nobleman and military official in the court of the last Gujarat Sultanate ruler, Shams ud-Din Muzaffar Shah III. The term 'Sidi' (or Siddi) refers to communities of African descent in the Indian subcontinent, many of whom arrived as slaves, merchants, or sailors and rose to positions of military and political prominence during the Sultanate period. The mosque bearing his name was completed in 1572 CE, the year the Gujarat Sultanate was absorbed into the Mughal Empire.

How long does a visit take?

The mosque is compact and a thorough visit — covering all ten jali screens, the prayer hall architecture, and exterior viewing of the rear screens from the south lane — takes 30 to 45 minutes. Photographers who want systematic documentation of each screen under different light conditions may spend 60–90 minutes.

What is the best vantage point for photographing the jali screens?

The exterior lane on the south side of the mosque, where the two famous 'tree of life' screens face outward. In this position the screens are backlit by sky and the intricate lattice pattern reads most clearly. Morning (07:00–09:00) gives east-of-south backlight; late afternoon (16:00–17:30) gives warmer light. Avoid flash entirely — it produces flat, shadowless results and risks surface damage over accumulated visitor use.

Compiled with AI assistance from official sources and public records, and published only after the checks in How we write these guides. Nobody from Traveliac has visited this place. Last updated 16 September 2026. How we rank and check places