UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Street, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Sat-Thu: 9.00am - 10.00pm
Fri: 4.30pm - 10.00pm

Blessed Ramadan to our Muslim friends! A visit to Abu Dhabi, the UAE wouldn't be complete without marvelling at the majestic Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Constructed from 1996 to 2007, it's the largest mosque in the country. During Eid, the mosque usually sees more than 40,000 worshippers and visitors alike in a day.

To go to the mosque, my BFF and I made use of Careem, a ride-hailing service operating in the Middle East that has been acquired by Uber in the first quarter of 2019. We paid AED 64.00 (~S$23.95) for the one-way journey. I managed to snap the photo below during the ride.

Excluding exterior landscaping and vehicle parking area, the mosque complex covers an area of more than 12 hectares.

You have to pass through a security screening area to enter the premise.

"When will my reflection show who I am inside?"

I wonder if the two dome-like structures have any special significance.

The mosque was designed by a Syrian architect called Yousef Abdelky.

The pillars are adorned with floral patterns.

The archways are quintessentiallly Moorish.

The floorplan and dome layout were inspired by those of Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan.

The courtyard measures about 17,000 square metres, which is considered to be the largest example of marble mosaic in the world.

Each of the four minarets rises about 107 m in height.

There are 82 domes of seven different sizes.

We continued to follow the tourist path leading to the main prayer hall.

There are three calligraphic styles used throughout the mosque: Kufic,, Naskhi and Thuluth.

The stunning main prayer hall can accommodate more than 7,000 worshippers.

The largest carpet in the world made by an Iranian company measures 5,627 square metres.

The seven chandeliers incorporating Swarovski crystals were imported from Munich, Germany.

Here are a few more photos of the exterior taken from outside the complex.

The mosque showcases "a harmonious unity [among] different Islamic architectural schools".

The final resting place of the late founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is located on the grounds adjacent to the mosque that's named after him.