Mosques, as places of worship, originated with Islam on the Arabian Peninsula. However the large Friday mosques that grace the cities of the Muslim world today are a far cry from the flat rooftop from which the first call to prayer was made and on which the first Muslim prayers were offered.
Mosque architecture accommodates the practical elements of Islamic religious practice yet is often a reflection of the culture and of the history of the area in which the mosque is situated. The Sheikh Zayed mosque is an amalgam of styles, linked with traditional Islamic architecture and displaying Arab, Moorish and Mughal influence. It sits on a man-made rise on the island facing the mainland between the two bridges that connect the island of Abu Dhabi with the mainland. The mosque took eleven years to build and was opened during Ramadan in 2007.
It is said that Sheikh Zayed wanted the mosque to present a welcome to visitors to the city, to be a gateway to the city. This mosque is the largest in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and can accommodate 9,000 worshippers in the main prayer hall and up to 40,000 within the mosque walls. During Eid festivals the numbers frequently exceed these figures and the grounds around the mosque fill with late arrivals to prayer. The Emirati culture is a deeply conservative culture, conservative yet tolerant and the mosque, apart from its obvious religious function, is a symbol of the balance between these two elements.
It welcomes visitors from other monotheisitic religions. However the friendly people manning the tour desk have never been heard asking visitors to state which monotheistic religion they adhere to. Minarets, qiblah, mihrab, musalla, minbar, ablution (wudu) are some words associated with mosque architecture. Some of these elements are essential, others serve conventional or aesthetic requirements.
Minarets originally served a practical purpose. They were built higher than buildings surrounding the mosque. In this way when the imam climbed the minaret to call the faithful to prayer he could easily be heard. Today, with the advantage of watches, mobile phones and computers, in many countries the minaret’s function has become aesthetic rather than practical.
All the mosques on the Arabian Peninsula still use their minarets for the call to prayer. Now instead of a person, electronic speakers attached to the balcony broadcast the call. The musalla is the prayer hall. It is the musalla that provides the most controversy among Muslims when a new mosque is built in a modern western country. For cultural and traditional religious reasons the men’s prayer hall in a mosque is usually much larger than the women’s prayer hall. It is the design of these separate prayer halls that are quite revelatory of cultural aspects in the U AE. The massive men’s prayer hall is the dominant aspect of the mosque, but the two smaller women’s prayer halls have been designed with such grace and artistry that they deserve special mention and certainly a visit if possible.
The men’s prayer hall contains the three largest chandeliers in the world (made from Swarovsky crystal and gold plated) and the world’s largest carpet hand woven in Iran. The massive central dome and the side domes, the marble pillars, gold and Italian glass inlay of the aspects of Allah along the qiblah wall all combine to impart the solemnity of religious belief, the massive responsibility of the faithful. But the women’s prayer hall with its glass and crystal, it’s curlicued gypsum ceiling and carpet reflecting the ceiling design has a unity, a lightness and a transcendence that seems to reflect the spirituality of the feminine.
The mihrab and the qiblah wall are essential element of a mosque’s prayer hall. The prayer hall is wider than it is deep, so the qiblah wall will be one of the longer walls in the mosque. The mihrab is the niche in the qiblah wall that indicates the direction of the Qa’aba in Mecca, the direction that Muslims should face when praying. In a prayer hall all worshippers including the imam will face the qiblah wall. 
There are several theories as to the origin of the niche, the mihrab. It may originally have had a practical acoustical purpose and amplified the words uttered in prayer by the imam. Today a wall in the prayer hall with a niche in it indicates that this is the qiblah wall. The minbar (or pulpit) beside the mihrab has an obvious purpose. It is from the minbar that the imam delivers the Friday sermon.
One of the most important aspects of Islam is ritual ablution (wudu) before prayer, and before touching a Koran.
The Ibn Tulun Mosque in Egypt is the oldest mosque in Cairo. It was completed in 879 AD and contains an ablution fountain that has achieved recent architectural fame. The ablution fountain with a high domed roof was added in the central courtyard at the end of the thirteenth century. I. M. Pei, designer of the Louvre Pyramid, at the age of 90 designed The Museum of the Islamic Arts, Qatar. His inspiration for the design of the museum in Qatar came from the ablution fountain of Ibn Tulun’s mosque and the Allhambra Palace in Spain.
Reviewer
12 February 2010
email: InTheAtmosphere@gmail.com
PS: Tours of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque are offered six days a week at 10.00 a.m. The mosque is closed to visitors on Fridays. The Jumeirah mosque in Dubai is also open to visitors. Each Thursday the mosque runs a tour followed by a question and answer session. Anyone wishing to go on either tour should ring the tourist information office in either city to check times and dress requirements.
PPS: Another mosque that is open to non-muslim visitors is the Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Muscat. If you are planning to visit the mosque, please contact the Oman tourism authority for days and times.
