| Tuesday, 6-Jan-2009 07:33 |
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sheikh zayed mosque, abu dhabi
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salam
hey guys. i'm back from my trip to the united arab emirates (uae). stayed there for a few weeks and went to a lot of interesting places (which, all of you must go if you have the chance!). so here i am again updating, with a different location for each entry. today i'll tell you guys what i see at the sheikh zayed mosque. enjoi!
the sheikh zayed mosque is located in abu dhabi, the capital of the uae. it boasts of a 40,000 jamaah capacity, making it the third largest mosque in the world. it costs 2 billion dirhams to build. its construction started around 10 years ago and up til now has yet to be completed. seriously! but it has been officiated last year, so people can go in and pray lah. the mosque is named after uae's founder and the first president, sheikh zayed bin sultan al nahyan. sheikh zayed is a visionary in his own right and without him, uae will not be what it is today.
upon arrival. that gated area is where sheikh zayed is buried. there's a live recital of the quran 24 hours everyday non-stop by an imam who sit outside the gates. he only stops during solat and works in shifts. how cool of a job. just recite the quran everyday until your shift is up.
the columns. they're as far as they eyes can see.
notice the beautiful floral details? they're not painted on the columns, but more like a colourful jigsaw puzzle. marbles of diferent colours were cut and pasted into the columns according to the designs. for EACH column. patutlah sampai skang x siap2 lagi. haha
the ablution area. pon lawa dan besarrr
there are 3 prayer halls: 1 main prayer hall in the middle, with 2 smaller halls for females on each side left and right of the main one. during non solat times, only the smaller halls are opened for public.
this is the smaller hall. not that small. can accomodate 1500 at 1 time.
now for the main prayer hall. it can fit around 9000. the entrance itself is one design feat. the walls are covered with beautiful tangles of greens and flowers.
the door to the main prayer hall is HUGE.
don't believe me? that's yours truly, in front of the door.
middle part of the main prayer hall. notice that big chandelier?
that's a world record right there. the chandelier is 10m in diameter and 15m in height. it is adorned with swarovski crystals. expensive would be a major understatement :p
there are two smaller chandeliers located on each left and right sides of the main prayer hall. this is is the right side.
the interior is just so surreal. subhanallah. btw, this mosque also holds the world record for the largest carpet ever made. This carpet measures 5,627 square meters, and was made by around 1,200 weavers, 20 technicians, and 30 workers. The weight of this carpet is 47 tons — 35 tons of wool, and 12 tons of cotton. There are 2,268,000 knots within the carpet.
the view from the courtyard inside the mosque. there were workers still installing the flower marbles into the courtyard floor at the time this photo was taken. the size of the courtyard is about 17000 sq m.
i guess they built it this big because it's to show that you are just puny in the eyes of the Almighty. i felt so insignificant during the few hours spent inside this mosque. subhanallah.
that's all for now. tell me what you think about this mosque :-)
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