Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Facts and Trivia: Inside the house of God in Arabia

I am still in the haze of my thoughts, trying to contain my amazement at being in a futuristic city on the fringes of a desert, when the car window reveals the pristine white minarets and domes of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque crowned with crescent moons. Located at the entrance point of the Abu Dhabi Island, the mosque is visible from all three bridges that connect the island city with the mainland. Hope these Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque facts would help you to understand the place better. There are over 2000 mosques in Abu Dhabi but this is the only one that allows entry to non-Muslims.

Soon after the driver drops me at the mosque, a flurry of activities take place. A battery car escorts me through what looks like a plush shopping mall to the dressing room. Here, I choose an abaya—a robe that would cover me from head to ankle. The mosque has strict dress code for women— hands, ankle and even hair can’t be exposed. So women are provided clean abaya, free of cost, to be slipped on top of whatever they are wearing, to be returned after the visit.

I select a red abaya, put it over my casuals, and board the battery car again. It zooms past the shopping arcade and finally drops me off at the mosque premises. A young Emirati woman joins me. She is one of the mosque’s dedicated guides. In heavily accented English, she starts her session. Our conversations are often times cut by the hum of airplanes. “Oh don’t mind them, most of the people living around here own private planes, hence the noise,” she says.

Construction of the mosque, conceptualized by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, started in 1996 and ended in 2007. Through the artistry of the mosque, Sheikh Zayed, the founder of UAE and erstwhile ruler of Abu Dhabi, wanted to unite the cultural diversity of the Islamic world. Italian civil engineering firm Impregilo was contracted for the project. The mosque is the collective labour of more than 3000 workers from countries all over the world, particularly Asia and Africa.

Architecture of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque: Marbles, Minarets and Ablution Pools

There is a beauty in the colour white, a surreal quietness, addictive to emotive beings. It pleases the eyes and calms the mind. Marbles for the mosque were sourced from Italy, Greece, China and India (Makrana in Rajasthan). I wouldn’t have known what the whitest of marble is capable of achieving had I not visited Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

The four minarets that soar skyward for 107 metres embody the square-style of Arabian mosques at its base, followed by a Mamlukian octagonal style which progresses into a circular Ottoman style before ending with the crowning lantern style of the Fatimid era.

I walk by the mosque’s ablution pool. The breeze displaces the blue sheet of water, drawing patterns on it. Between the pool and me is a well-kept lawn area with benches. Beyond the pool is an arcade that leads to the mosque’s prayer room. There are many such pools in the mosque, built to reflect the arcades and columns. UK based light designer Speirs and Major, with their 22 light towers, have sketched a lighting system that projects bluish grey clouds on the walls of the mosque and the projection changes every day depending on the phase of the moon. The reflection of the same in the pool adds a new level of aesthetics.

The Courtyard and the Taj Mahal connect of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Beyond the arcade is the rectangular courtyard or sahan, capable of holding 31000 worshippers during Ramadan and Id. The 17400 square metres wide courtyard, designed by English artist Kevin Dean, is a canvas for the marble mosaic that features flowers and vines. Humans just find a way to get what they want. When the desert created a barrier for blossoming of flowers, the flora of the world was brought to the mosque through designs.

While walking through the arcade, I notice flowers etched on the marble columns. The craftsmanship of the 1096 external columns of the mosque are inspired from the Taj Mahal. The flowers are gemstones like lapis lazuli, amethyst and so on, inlaid using the Pietra Dura technique—a style with origins in 16^th century Italy also used by the Mughals in India. The pilasters are styled to mimic drooping leaves of date palm trees, golden in colour.

While I fidget with my camera a male mosque worker comes up to me and sternly warns me about my hair straying out of the hood of the abaya. I observe the rules are far more relaxed for male tourists. I move inside the main prayer hall. While in the Indian subcontinent, even Muslim women are not allowed inside the main prayer hall of the mosque, the rules are different here. (NOTE: As of February 2020, Muslim women are granted permission to go inside mosques in India.)

Floral marble mosaics grace the floor of the entrance—the type of flowers are not uniform. I am informed that the mosaic of the southern entrance has flowers from the southern hemisphere and that of the northern gate has flowers from the northern hemisphere. In the main prayer room, a place that can house 7800 worshippers, flowers with middle-eastern origin are etched on the mosaics.

The outstanding chandelier and carpet of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Under my feet is a cushy carpet laid on the floor of the main prayer hall—the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet. Designed by Iranian artist Ali Khaliqi, hand-knotted by 1200 women artisans in Iran, the wool and cotton carpet weighs 47 tons, and covers a space of 5627 square metres. Prayer lines, a kind of boundary to maintain order and distance among the worshippers emerge out of the carpet like uniform parallel ridges. These ridges show the actual thickness of the carpet, which was later shaved to create indentations. The floral designs of the marble is revealed when the carpet is removed either for special religious congregations or for the yearly maintenance.

The design of the carpet is not a standalone piece of art, it interacts with other elements of the mosque—the central chandelier to be specific. As if hanging down from the heaven, the glittering chandelier, manufactured by Munich based firm Faustig, sparkles with Swarovski crystals, mimicking an upside down date palm tree. The green, yellow and red bulbs protruding from the chandelier represent the different stages of date fruit rearing. Weighing 12 tons, it is the largest chandelier of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The carpet is crafted to mimic the reflection of the chandelier.

Two other smaller chandeliers, weighing 8 tons each, adorn the main prayer hall. Four chandeliers, even smaller, scintillate the entrances. The 96 interior marble columns that offset the weight of the domes were handcrafted in China, entirely inlaid with the mother-of-pearl. The interior of the 82 domes of the mosque are etched with Moroccan patternwork and verses of the Quran are inscribed over them in Thuluth, Kufic and Naskhi calligraphy—scripts that my Emirati guide cannot decode—she says it is only for the experts.

Interior-most part of the mosque

The Qibla wall of the prayer hall, which is a wall in the direction of the Kaaba (the sacred mosque in Mecca) is etched with Kufic calligraphy with 99 attributes of God. At its centre is the semicircular mihrab or the niche. From its pointy top, ridges spiral down to the floor. They emanate a golden hue. I learn that the mihrab has been designed to imitate a river of milk and honey, a symbolic representation of heaven. Beside it, a mother-of-pearl engraved cedar wood structure with stairs and a dome shaped roof is the pulpit or menbar, a place where the imam sits to address the worshippers.

The Islamic clock ticks away on a wall, showing the five prayer timings — Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha. It also shows the predicted sunrise time. My guide says the prayer times change every day depending on the position of the Sun. There are 11 similar clocks in the mosque. What I find fascinating is that they also have a chart to help people who live in skyscrapers to calculate the time of the prayers accurately. The chart registers data for even the 250^th floor!

While leaving the complex, I hear someone reciting something in Arabic in one of the gardens of the mosque. I learn it is the grave of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The founder of UAE and conceptualizer of the mosque had passed away in 2004, three years before the completion of the mosque. Since then recitation of the Quran happens at his grave 24×7 and only stops during shift change and prayer times.

After getting enough pictures of the desert beauty, I board a battery car again, take off the abaya, return it and scoot off to my next destination.

Practical Information

Entrance charge – Free

Dress code for women – Free abayas are given by the mosque committee to be worn and returned to the mosque after the visit. The dress code is strictly maintained.

Dress code for men – Full-length trousers and shirts with sleeves.

The mosque has restrooms and shopping arcades in the complex.

To watch my Abu Dhabi video on Youtube, please click here.

Have you found this post educational? Do you find the facts about Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque interesting? Have you been to the mosque? Please comment below to let me know!

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Disclaimer: Tania was hosted by Abu Dhabi Tourism Board. All thoughts and opinions expressed in the post are of her own.

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