BAH: Al-Fateh Grand Mosque

Road No. 2407, Manama, Bahrain
Sat-Thu: 9.00am - 4.00pm

Al-Fateh Grand Mosque is one of the largest mosques in the world with a land area of 6,500 square metres. It was erected in 1987 and named after the founder of Bahrain who was originally from Qatar according to the guide that brought my BFF and me around.

We walked from Swiss International Palace Hotel to the mosque in the midday sun.

If you haven't already known, care to make a guess of what's the building next to the mosque?

The mosque is situated next to King Faisal Highway.

The website doesn't seem to be working though.

The majestic mosque against the cloudless sky~

Let's take a closer look at the fine architecture.

The main entrance was closed that afternoon.

Symmetry~ <3

We went in from the side entrance. As shown in one of the photos earlier, the mosque is open daily to visitors for sightseeing from 9.00am to 4.00pm, except on Fridays.

Instagram-worthy, right?

Upon registration, we and three other visitors waited for our tour guide to be ready. The mosque conducts free tours in many different languages, including but not limited to English, Filipino, French and Russian. Prior arrangements are encouraged for big groups and specific languages.

I saw twelve different languages on the rack.

The tour began with a brief history of Bahrain and the mosque.

Including the courtyard, the mosque can accommodate up to 7,000 worshippers.

We were then brought to the beautiful prayer hall.

Each lantern glass was individually blown.

That box of tissue particularly caught my attention.

The semi-circular ornamental indentation called mihrab marks the direction of Mecca.

Our guide allowed us to roam by ourselves to the upper level of the prayer hall. Only my BFF and I went up to check it out.

All the doors of the mosque are made of teak wood from India.

Weighing over 60 tonnes, it's the largest fibreglass dome in the world.

Two other thing caught my attention, one of which is a picture of a place where I can never go to.

The first chapter of the Qur'an contains a prayer for the guidance and mercy of God in seven verses.

To answer the question that I posted earlier above, the building next to the mosque is Isa Cultural Centre, which is the national library of the Kingdom. We didn't go inside though, but I heard that it houses around 7,000 books, half of which are as old as 100 years or more.

As the guide asked about my holiday trip before going off, I told him that I was going to fly to Istanbul, Turkey to meet my sister who's currently studying there. He recommended me to visit Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul where he has been helping in conducting tours time and again. I still haven't had the chance to drop by though.