GALLERY: AMAZING MOSQUES AROUND THE WORLD
Ancient & Modern
SUE BRATTLE and COLIN SIMPSON
WE LIVED close by mosques for almost seven years in Dubai, and the most evocative sound is the five-times-daily call to prayer in the Muslim faith. Nowadays the usually taped call comes through a sound system, but there’s a romance to the days when the muezzin or mosque official climbed the minaret to make the call in person. Mosques are difficult places for women, as they are a clear symbol of our place in the religious hierarchy, but the call is still one of my favourite sounds.
Many mosques don’t allow women in, although most have a women’s prayer hall and I always found them to be friendly. I felt overwhelmed in Beirut one day when we approached an old mosque so Colin could have a look around. I was handed a head covering and beckoned inside, too, where I sat among the men at their prayers. It felt very different from Dubai, where segregation is followed strictly except in the one mosque on Jumeirah Beach Road which is open to tourists.
However, like churches, temples, synagogues and ancient houses, mosques that have stood for centuries absorb the people who have visited them and have the same sense of timeless wonder. My taste tends to be ‘the simpler the better’; I love the little old mosque in Fujairah and the Dubai workers’ mosques which were scattered around the city. Unfortunately, I could only gaze from afar as I wasn’t allowed inside any of them. – S.B.
ABU DHABI, UAE
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is the country’s largest mosque – it can accommodate more than 40,000 worshippers.
It’s a striking building with four towering minarets and numerous onion-shaped domes, all finished in dazzling white. It was completed in 2007 in memory of Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of the UAE who is buried there. The building cost $545 million.
It contains what is reckoned to be the world’s largest carpet, and is decorated with beautiful marble mosaics and mother of pearl inlays. The seven chandeliers contain millions of Swarovski crystals.
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DUBAI, UAE
Most mosques are less grand than the Abu Dhabi one – this one in Dubai is used by labourers.
Dubai has almost 1,500 mosques, most of them built in what is known as the Fatimid style. This one, Jumeirah Mosque (below), offers guided tours and is the only mosque in the city that admits non-Muslims.
BEIRUT
Not all Blue Mosques are in Istanbul – this one, the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, is in downtown Beirut. It’s Lebanon’s largest mosque and was opened in 2008 by Saad Hariri, son of the late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri who was a driving force behind getting the mosque built. He was assassinated in 2005 and is buried next to the mosque.
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DELHI
For sheer beauty, it’s hard to top the Jama Masjid Mosque in Delhi, India. Its enormous courtyard seemed a hard walk on a hot and humid day, and it beggars belief how packed it gets on Fridays and holidays.
Perhaps its beauty comes from the man who built it in the 1650s, Shah Jahan, who also gave the world the awe-inspiring Taj Mahal. Sue had to cover with a flowery abaya before being allowed in, and caught the attention of a little girl who insisted on a selfie.
The mosque is one of the biggest in India and the thing you notice inside is the marking on the floor for prayer mats – enough space for 899 worshippers apparently.
FUJAIRAH, UAE
Al-Bidya Mosque in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, is a little gem. It doesn’t look like anything else, and academics have dated it back to the mid-15th century. It’s built from mud and for years was considered the oldest mosque in the Emirates.
But in 2018, the ruins of a mosque in Al Ain (another Emirate) were unearthed and they date back 1,000 years to the Islamic Golden Age. The Fujairah mosque is still in use, and prayers are held there daily.
The new kid on the block in Fujairah is the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, second only in size to the one in Abu Dhabi featured above and completed in 2015. Like the one in the Seychelles, it’s the work of Sheikh Khalifa, the UAE President, and is modelled on Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. It’s got parking for 3,000 cars.
OMAN
Here are two of the many mosques in Oman named after the country’s late ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, who died in January. The top one – in the capital, Muscat – was opened in 2001, and contains a prayer carpet that weighs 21 tonnes. The second one is in the city of Nizwa, once the capital of Oman and now considered the country’s spiritual and religious centre. In the background are the daunting Western Hajar mountains.
SEYCHELLES
The Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Mosque in Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles, is dominated like the town by the Trois Frères (Three Brothers) mountains. Sheikh Khalifa, president of the United Arab Emirates, named the mosque after his son and also has an enormous palace on the top of the mountain range.
NICOSIA
Once a cathedral, the Selimiye Mosque in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus, has a history so colourful it’s a true wonder that it’s still standing. When Ottoman soldiers stormed St Sophia’s Cathedral in 1570, they killed the Bishop of Paphos who had just delivered a sermon and set about cleansing the building before turning it into the mosque we know today.
From then on, the imams always carried a sword up to the minbar (pulpit) to deliver their sermons, so no one ever forgot who the city’s conquerors were.
JEDDAH
The Red Sea port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has many waterside mosques, such as the top three here. The top one is called the Floating Mosque because at high tide the waves reach above the supporting pillars. The blue and white domes are on one of two mosques at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in the desert outside Jeddah.
HONG KONG
Kowloon Mosque in our current home city, Hong Kong, rounds off our gallery. It’s in Nathan Road, and the orginal was built for “Mohammedans” serving in the British Army. The striking white replacement mosque was opened in the 1980s after work on the MTR (the underground railway system) damaged the old building.
MORE INFO
ABU DHABI’S Department of Culture and Tourism site has lots of information, plus quirky facts – for example, the intensity of the night-time lighting varies depending on the phases of the Moon, brightening as it becomes fuller. READ MORE
DETAILS of the Jumeirah Mosque tours can be found in the Dubai Department of Tourism site. Visitors learn about Islamic holidays, rituals, traditions, food and customs. READ MORE
RELATED
DELHI ATTRACTIONS: We kicked off our amazing trip to India with Delhi, on a Monday – the day the Red Fort is shut. So what else is there to do in the nation’s capital? READ MORE
THE TEMPLE OF LOVE: It’s the symbol of India, it’s one of the world’s most famous buildings, and it comes with a heart-breaking love story. The Taj Mahal has it all… READ MORE
NIGHTMARE BUDDHAS: You may think of Buddha as a jolly, fat figure that brings peace and joy to the world. Visit this monastery and you’ll think again. Some of the golden statues of Buddhas… READ MORE 
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Disclosure: Afaranwide is an affiliate of leading travel operators such as Booking.com and Japan Rail Pass. If you purchase through our site we receive, at no additional cost to you, a small commission. We only work with companies we have used and recommend.
LET'S KEEP IN TOUCH!
GALLERY: AMAZING MOSQUES AROUND THE WORLD
Ancient & Modern
SUE BRATTLE and COLIN SIMPSON
WE LIVED close by mosques for almost seven years in Dubai, and the most evocative sound is the five-times-daily call to prayer in the Muslim faith. Nowadays the usually taped call comes through a sound system, but there’s a romance to the days when the muezzin or mosque official climbed the minaret to make the call in person. Mosques are difficult places for women, as they are a clear symbol of our place in the religious hierarchy, but the call is still one of my favourite sounds.
Many mosques don’t allow women in, although most have a women’s prayer hall and I always found them to be friendly. I felt overwhelmed in Beirut one day when we approached an old mosque so Colin could have a look around. I was handed a head covering and beckoned inside, too, where I sat among the men at their prayers. It felt very different from Dubai, where segregation is followed strictly except in the one mosque on Jumeirah Beach Road which is open to tourists.
However, like churches, temples, synagogues and ancient houses, mosques that have stood for centuries absorb the people who have visited them and have the same sense of timeless wonder. My taste tends to be ‘the simpler the better’; I love the little old mosque in Fujairah and the Dubai workers’ mosques which were scattered around the city. Unfortunately, I could only gaze from afar as I wasn’t allowed inside any of them. – S.B.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is the country’s largest mosque – it can accommodate more than 40,000 worshippers.
It’s a striking building with four towering minarets and numerous onion-shaped domes, all finished in dazzling white. It was completed in 2007 in memory of Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of the UAE who is buried there. The building cost $545 million.
It contains what is reckoned to be the world’s largest carpet, and is decorated with beautiful marble mosaics and mother of pearl inlays. The seven chandeliers contain millions of Swarovski crystals.
Most mosques are less grand than the Abu Dhabi one – this one in Dubai is used by labourers.
Dubai has almost 1,500 mosques, most of them built in what is known as the Fatimid style. This one, Jumeirah Mosque, offers guided tours and is the only mosque in the city that admits non-Muslims.
Not all Blue Mosques are in Istanbul – this one, the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, is in downtown Beirut. It’s Lebanon’s largest mosque and was opened in 2008 by Saad Hariri, son of the late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri who was a driving force behind getting the mosque built. He was assassinated in 2005 and is buried next to the mosque.
For sheer beauty, it’s hard to top the Jama Masjid Mosque in Delhi, India. Its enormous courtyard seemed a hard walk on a hot and humid day, and it beggars belief how packed it gets on Fridays and holidays.
Perhaps its beauty comes from the man who built it in the 1650s, Shah Jahan, who also gave the world the awe-inspiring Taj Mahal. Sue had to cover with a flowery abaya before being allowed in, and caught the attention of a little girl who insisted on a selfie.
The mosque is one of the biggest in India and the thing you notice inside is the marking on the floor for prayer mats – enough space for 899 worshippers apparently.
Al-Bidya Mosque in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, is a little gem. It doesn’t look like anything else, and academics have dated it back to the mid-15th century. It’s built from mud and for years was considered the oldest mosque in the Emirates.
But in 2018, the ruins of a mosque in Al Ain (another Emirate) were unearthed and they date back 1,000 years to the Islamic Golden Age. The Fujairah mosque is still in use, and prayers are held there daily.
The new kid on the block in Fujairah is the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, second only in size to the one in Abu Dhabi featured above and completed in 2015. Like the one in the Seychelles, it’s the work of Sheikh Khalifa, the UAE President, and is modelled on Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. It’s got parking for 3,000 cars.
Here are two of the many mosques in Oman named after the country’s late ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, who died in January. The top one – in the capital, Muscat – was opened in 2001, and contains a prayer carpet that weighs 21 tonnes. The second one is in the city of Nizwa, once the capital of Oman and now considered the country’s spiritual and religious centre. In the background are the daunting Western Hajar mountains.
The Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Mosque in Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles, is dominated like the town by the Trois Frères (Three Brothers) mountains. Sheikh Khalifa, president of the United Arab Emirates, named the mosque after his son and also has an enormous palace on the top of the mountain range.
Once a cathedral, the Selimiye Mosque in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus, has a history so colourful it’s a true wonder that it’s still standing. When Ottoman soldiers stormed St Sophia’s Cathedral in 1570, they killed the Bishop of Paphos who had just delivered a sermon and set about cleansing the building before turning it into the mosque we know today.
From then on, the imams always carried a sword up to the minbar (pulpit) to deliver their sermons, so no one ever forgot who the city’s conquerors were.
The Red Sea port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has many waterside mosques, such as these three. The one above is called the Floating Mosque because at high tide the waves reach above the supporting pillars.
The blue and white domes are on one of two mosques at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in the desert outside Jeddah.
Kowloon Mosque in our current home city, Hong Kong, rounds off our gallery. It’s in Nathan Road, and the orginal was built for “Mohammedans” serving in the British Army. The striking white replacement mosque was opened in the 1980s after work on the MTR (the underground railway system) damaged the old building.
July 2020
MORE INFO
ABU DHABI’S Department of Culture and Tourism site has lots of information, plus quirky facts – for example, the intensity of the night-time lighting varies depending on the phases of the Moon, brightening as it becomes fuller. READ MORE
DETAILS of the Jumeirah Mosque tours can be found in the Dubai Department of Tourism site. Visitors learn about Islamic holidays, rituals, traditions, food and customs. READ MORE
RELATED
DELHI ATTRACTIONS: We kicked off our amazing trip to India with Delhi, on a Monday – the day the Red Fort is shut. So what else is there to do in the nation’s capital? READ MORE
THE TEMPLE OF LOVE: It’s the symbol of India, it’s one of the world’s most famous buildings, and it comes with a heart-breaking love story. The Taj Mahal has it all… READ MORE
NIGHTMARE BUDDHAS: You may think of Buddha as a jolly, fat figure that brings peace and joy to the world. Visit this monastery and you’ll think again. Some of the golden statues of Buddhas… READ MORE
RECOMMENDED
WELCOME TO OUR WORLD! Afaranwide’s home page – this is where you can find out about our latest posts and other highlights. READ MORE
TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS: Many of the world’s most popular tourists sites are closed because of the coronavirus crisis, but you can still visit them virtually while you’re self-isolating. READ MORE
TEN THINGS WE LEARNED: Our detailed guide to creating a website, one step at a time. The costs, the mistakes – it’s what we wish we’d known when we started blogging. READ MORE
SHIMLA, QUEEN OF THE HILLS: Government officials once retreated to Shimla in the foothills of the Himalayas to escape India’s blazing hot summers. Now tourists make the same journey. READ MORE
TROUBLED TIMES FOR EXPATS: Moving abroad can seem an idyllic prospect, but what happens when sudden upheavals or the inescapable realities of life intrude? READ MORE
Disclosure: Afaranwide is an affiliate of leading travel operators such as Booking.com and Japan Rail Pass. If you purchase through our site we receive, at no additional cost to you, a small commission. We only work with companies we have used and recommend.
LET'S KEEP IN TOUCH!
Ancient & Modern
Amazing Mosques Around the World
SUE BRATTLE and COLIN SIMPSON
WE LIVED close by mosques for almost seven years in Dubai, and the most evocative sound is the five-times-daily call to prayer in the Muslim faith. Nowadays the usually taped call comes through a sound system, but there’s a romance to the days when the muezzin or mosque official climbed the minaret to make the call in person. Mosques are difficult places for women, as they are a clear symbol of our place in the religious hierarchy, but the call is still one of my favourite sounds.
Many mosques don’t allow women in, although most have a women’s prayer hall and I always found them to be friendly. I felt overwhelmed in Beirut one day when we approached an old mosque so Colin could have a look around. I was handed a head covering and beckoned inside, too, where I sat among the men at their prayers. It felt very different from Dubai, where segregation is followed strictly except in the one mosque on Jumeirah Beach Road which is open to tourists.
However, like churches, temples, synagogues and ancient houses, mosques that have stood for centuries absorb the people who have visited them and have the same sense of timeless wonder. My taste tends to be ‘the simpler the better’; I love the little old mosque in Fujairah and the Dubai workers’ mosques which were scattered around the city. Unfortunately, I could only gaze from afar as I wasn’t allowed inside any of them. – S.B.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is the country’s largest mosque – it can accommodate more than 40,000 worshippers.
It’s a striking building with four towering minarets and numerous onion-shaped domes, all finished in dazzling white. It was completed in 2007 in memory of Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of the UAE who is buried there. The building cost $545 million.
It contains what is reckoned to be the world’s largest carpet, and is decorated with beautiful marble mosaics and mother of pearl inlays. The seven chandeliers contain millions of Swarovski crystals.
Most mosques are less grand than the Abu Dhabi one – this one in Dubai is used by labourers.
Not all Blue Mosques are in Istanbul – this one, the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, is in downtown Beirut. It’s Lebanon’s largest mosque and was opened in 2008 by Saad Hariri, son of the late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri who was a driving force behind getting the mosque built. He was assassinated in 2005 and is buried next to the mosque.
For sheer beauty, it’s hard to top the Jama Masjid Mosque in Delhi, India. Its enormous courtyard seemed a hard walk on a hot and humid day, and it beggars belief how packed it gets on Fridays and holidays.
Perhaps its beauty comes from the man who built it in the 1650s, Shah Jahan, who also gave the world the awe-inspiring Taj Mahal. Sue had to cover with a flowery abaya before being allowed in, and caught the attention of a little girl who insisted on a selfie.
The mosque is one of the biggest in India and the thing you notice inside is the marking on the floor for prayer mats – enough space for 899 worshippers apparently.
Al-Bidya Mosque in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, is a little gem. It doesn’t look like anything else, and academics have dated it back to the mid-15th century. It’s built from mud and for years was considered the oldest mosque in the Emirates.
But in 2018, the ruins of a mosque in Al Ain (another Emirate) were unearthed and they date back 1,000 years to the Islamic Golden Age. The Fujairah mosque is still in use, and prayers are held there daily.
The new kid on the block in Fujairah is the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, second only in size to the one in Abu Dhabi featured above and completed in 2015. Like the one in the Seychelles, it’s the work of Sheikh Khalifa, the UAE President, and is modelled on Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. It’s got parking for 3,000 cars.
Here are two of the many mosques in Oman named after the country’s late ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, who died in January. The top one – in the capital, Muscat – was opened in 2001, and contains a prayer carpet that weighs 21 tonnes. The second one is in the city of Nizwa, once the capital of Oman and now considered the country’s spiritual and religious centre. In the background are the daunting Western Hajar mountains.
Dubai has almost 1,500 mosques, most of them built in what is known as the Fatimid style. This one, Jumeirah Mosque, offers guided tours and is the only mosque in the city that admits non-Muslims.
The Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Mosque in Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles, is dominated like the town by the Trois Frères (Three Brothers) mountains. Sheikh Khalifa, president of the United Arab Emirates, named the mosque after his son and also has an enormous palace on the top of the mountain range.
Once a cathedral, the Selimiye Mosque in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus, has a history so colourful it’s a true wonder that it’s still standing. When Ottoman soldiers stormed St Sophia’s Cathedral in 1570, they killed the Bishop of Paphos who had just delivered a sermon and set about cleansing the building before turning it into the mosque we know today.
From then on, the imams always carried a sword up to the minbar (pulpit) to deliver their sermons, so no one ever forgot who the city’s conquerors were.
The Red Sea port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has many waterside mosques, such as these three. The one above is called the Floating Mosque because at high tide the waves reach above the supporting pillars.
The blue and white domes are on one of two mosques at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in the desert outside Jeddah.
Kowloon Mosque in our current home city, Hong Kong, rounds off our gallery. It’s in Nathan Road, and the orginal was built for “Mohammedans” serving in the British Army. The striking white replacement mosque was opened in the 1980s after work on the MTR (the underground railway system) damaged the old building.
July 2020
MORE INFO
ABU DHABI’S Department of Culture and Tourism site has lots of information, plus quirky facts – for example, the intensity of the night-time lighting varies depending on the phases of the Moon, brightening as it becomes fuller. READ MORE
DETAILS of the Jumeirah Mosque tours can be found in the Dubai Department of Tourism site. Visitors learn about Islamic holidays, rituals, traditions, food and customs. READ MORE
RELATED
DELHI ATTRACTIONS: We kicked off our amazing trip to India with Delhi, on a Monday – the day the Red Fort is shut. So what else is there to do in the nation’s capital? READ MORE
THE TEMPLE OF LOVE: It’s the symbol of India, it’s one of the world’s most famous buildings, and it comes with a heart-breaking love story. The Taj Mahal has it all… READ MORE
NIGHTMARE BUDDHAS: You may think of Buddha as a jolly, fat figure that brings peace and joy to the world. Visit this monastery and you’ll think again. Some of the golden statues of Buddhas… READ MORE
RECOMMENDED
WELCOME TO OUR WORLD! Afaranwide’s home page – this is where you can find out about our latest posts and other highlights. READ MORE
TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS: Many of the world’s most popular tourists sites are closed because of the coronavirus crisis, but you can still visit them virtually while you’re self-isolating. READ MORE
TEN THINGS WE LEARNED: Our detailed guide to creating a website, one step at a time. The costs, the mistakes – it’s what we wish we’d known when we started blogging. READ MORE
SHIMLA, QUEEN OF THE HILLS: Government officials once retreated to Shimla in the foothills of the Himalayas to escape India’s blazing hot summers. Now tourists make the same journey. READ MORE
TROUBLED TIMES FOR EXPATS: Moving abroad can seem an idyllic prospect, but what happens when sudden upheavals or the inescapable realities of life intrude? READ MORE
Disclosure: Afaranwide is an affiliate of leading travel operators such as Booking.com and Japan Rail Pass. If you purchase through our site we receive, at no additional cost to you, a small commission. We only work with companies we have used and recommend.