[Suzanne27507]

Do Indians (i.e. from India) feel a strong affinity to the Taj Mahal, the way other religions feel strongly about, say, Mecca, or The Western Wall?
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Name : Suzanne27507, Gender : F, City : N/A, State : NA, Country : N/A, 

[Niraj]

Many Indians feel a strong sense of pride at the beauty and fame of the Taj Mahal, but this pride has no religious origin because the Taj, unlike the Wailing Wall, is not a religious site. While it is true that it was built as a mausoleum by a Muslim emperor, the Taj is not considered to be among the holy places of Islam. Rather, its significance, for people of Indians of Muslim backgrounds as well as those of Hindu, Sikh and other backgrounds, is primarily artistic and historical. A good analogy would be to the pride Italians must feel with respect to the Coliseum in Rome – a national pride, but without religious underpinning.

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Name : Niraj, Race : Asian Indian, City : Waltham, State : MA, Country : United States, 

[Roobah]

Most likely the real reason it isn’t a center for Islam is because it has Persian origins. And the Persian ‘flavor’ of Islam is a significant minority that the rest of the Islamic world would rather forget (i.e., Shiite) I’d think. A persian friend of mine informed me that ‘Taj Mahal’ are Persian words and so was the name of the king who had it built (during a time when the Persian Empire had control of that part of the world for a period of time).

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Name : Roobah, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 37, City : raleigh, State : NC, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Marium]

I am a muslim south asian and i feel ‘strong affinity’ to the Taj Mahal because it was built by a muslim Mughal emperor even though it is not religious.

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Name : Marium, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Muslim, Age : 15, City : Surrey, State : NA, Country : Canada, 

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