There was only one place I wanted to visit during my Abu Dhabi trip, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque or simply known as the Grand Mosque. I had 38 hours layover in the city and this would give me ample time to visit this remarkable Mosque.
GETTING DRESSED PROPERLY
Visiting the mosque was the only place I had done some homework in advance as I wanted to make sure I was properly dressed. I knew I had to wear long sleeves and trousers and have a scarf to cover my hair.
When I arrived at the entrance, the men walked straight through, and the women were diverted to a room. There were rows of abaya in a few different colours and sizes, and every female was handed one regardless of how they were dressed. No one seemed to object to the abaya, and the staff handing them out certainly didn't seem to be in a negotiating mode. Having said that, I did see a few females fully covered and not wearing an abaya at the mosque. Perhaps negotiation was possible if you really tried...
THE ARCHITECTURE
The grand mosque is the largest mosque in UAE, and one of the largest mosque in the world. It took 12 years to build and was completed in 2007. The site is about 12 hectares large, and has 82 white marble domes of different sizes. All the visitors will see the largest dome, located above the main prayer hall as soon as they enter the mosque.
Like all visitors, I spent a little too much time around this area gasping in awe of the white marble structure. A little tip for visitors, if you come here, don't spend too much time at the front. The mosque is so huge, you will need enough time to wander around the whole place to appreciate it. Every spot around the mosque is a jaw dropping location.
You can only walk one direction, clockwise, from the front. Visitors walk around the center courtyard, a 17,000 square meter open area than can hold 41,000 worshippers! It's really quite hard to imagine this. It just shows how big the mosque is. The entire courtyard is layered with marble mosaics of flowers. Visitors aren't allowed to step on it, which is understandable.
There are 96 columns surrounding the courtyard, and each of them are covered in white marble and decorated with mother of pearl mosaics. I had a real close up look at the mosaic, and the craftsmanship was remarkable. All the floral pieces were cut perfectly and fitted like a jigsaw onto the white marble. It was almost like they came as one single piece.
THE INTERIOR
Visitors can enter some areas inside the mosque. This is one section, the entrance leading into the main prayer - that area is restricted for most visitors. The white marble and floral mosaic extends in here giving a different feel from that seen outside.
I loved how the light flooded into the room creating a beautiful refelection of flowers from the window pane.
This is the main prayer room and it is big enough to hold 7000 worshippers. The room has claims to a couple number ones. The largest dome in the mosque, as I mentioned before. And the world largest carpet. Imagine how many people you can fit in your living room at home and how big your carpet is. Then imagine how big a carpet would be for 7000 people. Have a think about that.
This photo was taken at the doorstep of the prayer room. Normally, visitors are not allowed to enter this room, but I will tell you how to get in.
MAIN PRAYER ROOM
Normally when I visit places, I prefer to walk around by myself and discover things at my own pace. On this occasion, I decided to join the cultural guided tour to learn about the Islamic culture, and the design of the mosque. The tour runs every hour and are free of charge, as is entrance to the mosque, in case I forgot to tell you. You don't need to pre book the tour, just turn up at the waiting point slightly before the tour is due to start.
I would highly highly highly recommend joining the culture tour, that's why I have to say it three times. Of course, you will learn things about the mosque to save you reading it off the internet your self. But the most important thing is that you will be able to access the main prayer room which is off limits to the rest of the visitors.
This is our tour guide, if memory serves me right, her name is Fatima, a beautiful local lady. This was taken inside the main prayer room where Fatima is telling us about the various features of the room. The image quality is quite poor, but I wanted to show you her beautiful smile.
Remember the world largest carpet I told you about earlier on, and how large that is. 5627 square meters if you're wondering. This carpet took over 1200 people a year to hand-knot using 70% wool and 30% cotton. Fatima said when the carpet pieces were transported here, it took the carpet knotters another couple of months to weave them all together. I felt so privileged to stand on the world largest carpet.
REFLECTIVE POOLS
Apart from the 92 columns surrounding the courtyard, there are 1096 external columns around the mosque. These are also made of white marble and inlaid with many precious and semi precious stones. Fatima told us there are physically 1096 external columns but you can actually see 2192 columns. There's no magic involved in this, or perhaps you can consider the design to be magical.
There are many pools outside of the mosque. And under the right conditions, all the columns reflect into the pool creating a double image. Isn't this just stunning!
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a remarkable structure, and if time permits, I would highly highly highly recommend (yes, three times again) to see it both at day and night. I came here at late afternoon and lingered on till after sunset. The night view at the grand mosque is worthy of a post of it's own...
Till then, see you next time.
