Mishkal Mosque

Mishkal Mosque, also spelled Mithqal, stands in the Kuttichira neighbourhood near Thekkepuram beach in Kozhikode. It was built in the 14th century by Mishkal, a wealthy shipowner, or nakhuda, active in Calicut in the 1340s, whose fleet traded with China, Yemen and Persia. It is one of the few medieval mosques in Kerala to survive and is valued as a major historical and architectural monument.

The building follows the traditional Kerala-Islamic style. In January 1510 Portuguese forces under Albuquerque attacked Calicut and set the mosque partly on fire; the Zamorin's Nair troops drove them back, and the Zamorin later oversaw the mosque's repair. Damage from the attack can still be seen on its upper floors.