Azizia Masjid, Hyderabad

The Azizia Masjid, or Masjid-e-Azizia, is a Friday mosque in Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad, and the largest in the area, with space for more than 10,000 worshippers across four floors, each with its own ablution area. Abdul Hafeez Khan laid its foundation stone in 1966 and named it after his father, Abdul Azeez. The building also houses the headquarters of the Students Islamic Organisation of India and an Islamic centre of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.

Friday sermons deal with current social and economic questions, and women may attend prayers. The mosque also serves as a community centre, offering medical aid to the poor of any religion, free blood pressure and sugar tests after the dawn prayer, interest-free gold loans, pensions for widows and the elderly, and notices of government job vacancies. It runs a school for memorising the Quran and holds summer workshops for boys and girls.