Today we visited The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It is a magnificent mosque that is apparently the 3rd largest in the world. It took 11 years to build and is one of the few mosques that non-Muslims can tour.
Sheikh Zayed was the first ruler of The UAE and was extremely popular. He was very involved in the design and building of this mosque. But unfortunately he died in 2004 before it’s completion.
Ground breaking began in 1996 and during the 11 years that it took to build, 38 construction companies from around the world and more than 3000 workers were involved! The site is over 22,000 square meters, which is equivalent to about 5 football fields! There is marble from Greece, semi-precious stones from India, chandeliers from Germany, and glass doors from Italy!
We arrived early for the 11am tour. One of the things we were looking forward to was that women visitors must wear the traditional abayas and cover their heads also! So the girls and I headed to the changing room and emerged covered in black! A funny thing happened as the girls and I wondered off to take pictures. I received a text from Leon: “Where are you?” he wrote. So I called him and he said he couldn’t find us because we all looked the same covered in black gowns! Very interesting I thought – especially after the experience I had the other evening with the girls in shorts! Maybe there’s something to this!
Our tour guide was great! We began in the courtyard whose floor was made of marble from Greece. An interesting fact was that this particular marble doesn’t get hot! It was amazing! The inlaid stones were hot to the feet but not the white marble! It has to be this way because this is where people might pray if the inside rooms are filled. This could actually occur during special times like Ramadan, or Eid holidays. The mosque can accommodate 40,000 worshippers! There are 82 domes and over 1000 columns surrounding the courtyard. The style was inspired by the Taj Mahal in India. We then removed our shoes for the tour of the inside.
Wow! Where to begin! The first room we entered was a smaller prayer room which is usually used by women. Where men are required to pray at a mosque on fridays, women are not. It is OK for them to pray at home. But if they wish to attend this mosque there is a separate room for them. And it is also used as an overflow room from the main prayer room when needed. There was a magnificent chandelier covered in Swarovski crystals hanging from the ceiling. Then our guide pointed out that the pattern on the ceiling was an exact duplicate of the pattern on the carpet – but the amazing thing was they were made in two different countries!
Then we entered the main prayer room. This was spectacular! 3 of the most amazing chandeliers I’ve ever seen. The center chandelier is the world’s largest, measuring almost 33 ft in diameter and weighing over 9 tons!! All 3 were covered in Swarovski crystals and made in Germany I believe. This room also houses the world’s largest hand-woven Persian carpet. And somehow it was made all in one piece. The wall towards which the muslims face to pray is called the Qibla. Here, it is 75 ft. high and 165 ft wide. Unlike the other walls in the room, this one is kept subtle as not to distract worshippers during prayer. While this room is a bit opulent, it was really quite beautiful and rather peaceful. I could picture thousands of people lined up praying here. We enjoyed our tour and learned a lot about the Islamic religion. Even the girls said: “Thanks for bringing us here Mom”!!
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