My Abudhabi - The Grand Sheikh Zayed Mosque

Hey All... Back here to add one more important Place to my diary...
A very touching monument in My Second home Abudhabi - save for The Grand Mosque built by the late His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder and former president of UAE.

As you all can see tiny Rihan(My Son) in the picture, and visualize the magnificent grand appearance of this Mosque, it is quite more grand and vast naturally. This is the third largest mosque after Makkah and Madina, which I excellently discussed in my first blog post.

Well... do you know that I am related so close to this Grand Mosque? no more deep thinking my friends... This mosque is near to my living place. So I feel I am a good neighbour of it. People among my family and friends who come to visit me will visit the mosque even and vice versa. So I have visited there a number of times and still admiring the WOWness of it every time I see it. Because the mosque is predominantly white in color, which symbolizes purity and piety. It is heard that the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was fond of white color and the white marbles used here were shipped all the way from Italy and the colored ones from Spain, Morocco, China and India.



The name of this mosque itself is an eponym of the late president of UAE, who wanted the mosque to be visible from all the directions. So he had it built with a rise of 11 meters above the sea level and 9.5 meters above the street level. It was constructed between the year 1996-2007. Still, praises should be given to Yousef Abdelkey, the Syrian architect behind this grand Architecture. The main axis of this mosque is rotated about eleven degrees south of the true west, aligning it in the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. It took almost twelve years and more than 38 contracting companies, 3,500 workers to build this beautiful architecture. The unique lighting system was designed by lighting architects to reflect the phases of the moon. Beautiful bluish grey clouds are projected in lights on to the external walls to get brighter and darker according to the moon phase. As you browse through my photos here, You all will understand why this grand mosque deserves a dedicated blog post.



Rihans first visit to the mosque

So this Ramadan I was eagerly looking for a day off to have the grand Iftar at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Even though my husband's duty schedule disappoints me ever, I still started poking him to take me there. By this time I got a couple of guests at my home to visit Abudhabi... tadaa..this was my door to iftar at the grand mosque. but the guests chose to have iftar in my home and I ended up in my kitchen cooking for them.:-p... but leaving those aside, I still wanted to visit the mosque.
There was a confusion to visit the mosque at night due to Ramadan timings, as it was already late that they had to return back to Dubai. Later then... my Husband, who always in favor of me broke the silence and took a plan to take the guests to the Grand Mosque. We took them there and introduced the entrance check-in where they check whether we follow the Islamic rule of dress code to cover ourselves and be safe. It was all new to my relatives as the check-ins and scans are mostly done in an Airport. We walked inside admiring the cool breeze which gave peace to our inner soul. And my family now was so thankful to us and was lost in its eye-catching view.


Once inside, we can see a large courtyard having 1,048 columns, with each having handpainted flowers showing the ancient rich Islamic architectural patterns on it and crowned on top with golden date palm design inspired by Emirate culture. The inner sight is mesmerizing that we see a nice array of this column like pillars all over the Mosque.



The marble floor on this courtyard is beautifully sprawled over with huge floral artwork and scientifically designed to remain cool especially during summer. We couldn't even turn our eyes apart from the view of this beautiful floor as we walk along.



Perhaps the most noticeable element of the mosque is the collection of 82 domes, the largest of which is located in the center of the main prayer hall. These domes are featured with pure white marble cladding, onion-shaped crowns and crescent-shaped finials decorated with gold glass mosaic.



And when we look upwards, there are a total of four minarets, each approximately 106 meters tall. Each minaret is comprised of three different geometrical shapes. All the people inside seemed to have a focused view on every edge of this Mosque. And we started our usual ceremony to frame the moments...yeah.. We clicked pictures everywhere all set in whatever camera modes available.



We headed towards the prayer hall which is the center of attraction with many more unique elements, the carpet and the chandelier. This prayer hall houses the worlds largest hand-knotted carpet, handcrafted by approximately 1,200 artisans in Iran. The carpet is still in one piece, all 5,700 square meters of it. The predominantly wool, single carpet with its rich floral pattern drags our inner soul to kneel down to Almighty(SWT) in a wave of peace and divine environment.

entrance to the prayer hall


inside prayer hall

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque actually has seven crystal chandeliers inside its halls and foyers, all of which were made and shipped from Germany. The prayer hall has the grandest chandelier I have ever seen. This one is the largest and weighs approximately 12tons. All the chandeliers are studded with Swarovski crystals on them.

closer view of the carpet


largest chandelier

There are 96 columns inside the prayer hall are clad with marble and inlaid with mother of pearl. every column seeks our attention to it as it wants to convey some message to the visitors there.



The direction to pray, the Qibla wall is beautifully featured with the 99 names(qualities or attributes) of God(Allah SWT) in traditional Kufic calligraphy, designed by the prominent UAE calligrapher- Mohammed Mandi Al Tamimi. The walls of the prayer hall depict the magnificent floral patterns which are a pure instant from the ancient Islamic architecture.

Not only these there are lots of things to be noticed and admired in the mosque. Though I have visited here a number of times I still want to have a revisit every time I could. That day my wish for iftar in the mosque was not in my fate. But, the very next day my dear Husband took me for the iftar and we both are already there in the tent. More than 40,000 people accommodate every day there, and believe me there is no rush or congest during the Iftar time. Everything was well arranged inside tents and I must say, the cleanliness maintained during and after the iftar session was a very quick and tactic method.
An unforgettable experience, there are a huge number of nationalities experiencing the sense of universal brotherhood. It is open for all and even for the non muslims without any compromise on portions and quality of the food provided.
This mosque has become a focal point for the rich, poor, needy for everyone during the holy month of Ramadan.

Just a little reminder though to those of you who are planning to visit the place, please bear in mind that this is a sacred place of worship. Give respect and dress in modesty or provided the Abhaya from the entrance and clicking pictures and wearing footwears on all places are not allowed. so, make the best plan and feel free to visit the Grand Sheikh Zayed Mosque whenever it is your time to visit UAE,  My Abudhabi<3