Why you must visit this marvel
Mosques stand tall against all the skyscrapers the UAE is home to. These ornate places of worship are a spiritual escape for the Muslims and architectural marvels for tourists. In a 7-part series, Khaleej Times picks 7 of the best mosques from the 7 emirates.
While each and every emirate in the UAE is known for a major milestone, the Emirate of Fujairah is widely famous for the Sheikh Zayed mosque, the second biggest in the UAE.
The mosque, situated in the middle of Fujairah downtown, can accommodate up to 28,000 worshippers at a time, according to Yusuf Al Obaidali, director-general of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre, Abu Dhabi.
“These include the main prayer hall enough for 12,000 people, women prayer room that accommodates 4,000 people, and the external yard that is enough for some 12,000 worshippers.”
The mosque is run by the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre in Abu Dhabi, which falls under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.
It reflects the passion of the UAE leadership about the mosques and their role in promoting the true image of Islam, he underlined.
Ibrahim Al Kaabi, director of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Fujairah, said the construction works for the mosque was started in May 2010 and it was completed in 2015 with a cost of Dh237 million.
“The mosque, built on a total area of 39,000sqm, was opened for the faithful in May 2015.”
The architectural and construction engineering team included eight architects and interior designers, six Malaysians, Syrian and Filipino architects, as well as four design engineers, and about 750 workers, he said.
“The first phase of the project took 700 days while the second phase, specified for the decoration took 360 days.”
The main courtyard of the mosque is surrounded by four corridors and topped by 35 small domes, and six minarets — four of which are 100 metres high and the other two are 89 metres high.
The Sheikh Zayed mosque has parking spaces for 2,000 vehicles.
Up to 300 chairs are provided for the elderly, determined people and patients in the mosque. All the mosque facilities are friendly for the use of people of determination.
Sameh Mohammed, an Egyptian resident, said that he had almost an impression that he was visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque in Abu Dhabi.
Hamdi Al Arabi, a Palestinian resident, said the mosque is built in an empty area where no other buildings are there. “One can see the iconic mosque from a long distance.”