The Shah Jahan Mosque was constructed by the eponymous Emperor as a gift to the people of Sindh. It is built predominantly of heavy brick and is laid out in the usual quadrilateral arrangement with a large (52 x 30 meter) courtyard at its center. The arcades around the courtyard are covered with 93 domes of varying size. One remarkable acoustical feature is that the prayers of anyone speaking loudly in front of the mihrab (the prayer niche facing Mecca) can be heard clearly throughout the building.

It was not until 1658-59 that the eastern portion of the building and the gateway were completed. Later repairs were undertaken under Emperor Alamgir in 1692 and in 1812 under the auspices of a local chieftain, Murad Ali Khan Talpur. Further renovations took place in 1855 and in 1894 during the British period. More recently, the mosque was restored during the 1960s and 70s.

According to legend, the building’s initial mihrab, the marking in a mosque’s wall that signifies the direction in which the Ka’ba within Mecca lies, was incorrectly aligned. Desperate to correct their mistake without starting over, the builders decided to approach the Sufi mystic Makhdum Nooh to fix their mistake. It is said that the mihrab’s alignment was corrected overnight after the Sufi mystic prayed to God to fix the mishap, after which he became a venerated saint in Islam. Of course, while it is more fun to believe in this myth, records exist which show that the mihrab was rebuilt and properly aligned a century after the mosque was originally constructed.