Must see mosques of United Arab Emirates
- The mosque opening our rank is definitely the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It is the largest mosque in the Emirates (8th in the world) and it really is impressive. When we saw it for the first time from the road we said at the same time „Look at that!”. Indeed it’s huge. 40 000 people can pray there at one time! And at the same time it is an architectural masterpiece. Opened in 2007 combines different rich Islamic styles from around the world. It is all covered with white Macedonian marble on the oustde, which beautifully contrasts with always blue sky of Abu Dhabi. Imagine only that there are 82 domes in whole construction. Some bigger, some smaller and the biggest one right above main prayer hall. There are 4 mianerts on every corner of the courtyard, each over 100 meters high. The courtyard measures 17 000 square meters and is all coated with mosaic of different color marbles.
Main prayers hall is covered with a hand-made carpet of 5700 square meters which production took 2 years. 1200 people took part in this process. We had a chance to feel its softness because of course inside the mosque we went barefoot. What is important – tourists are not allowed to sit on it. 
All the mosque’s interior is decorated in soft colors, all the decorations are kept in the same tones. Domes from the inside are decorated with Morrocan artwork, right under them there are golden verses from the Holy Quran. In the foyers and main hall prayers will find seven huge chandeliers hangig right above their heads. Materials used to their manufacturing are Svarovsky’s crystals and gilded stainless steel and brass. The biggest one weighs around 12 tones! 
Useful advice: before visting the mosque make sure that it’s not friday morining because it’s the time eclusively for prayers and they don’t open until 4:30 pm. Other days they are open from 9 am until 10 pm. Free guided tours are available and take up to one hour. Visiting the mosque requires from tourists respecting basic muslim rules of modest clothes. Wrongly dressed? By the entrance they offer free of charge traditional arabic clothes for men and women. Mosque’s interior is of course air-conditioned.
- Jumeirah mosque – located by Jumeirah road, Dubai. Another big and interesting temple. Of course it’s way smaller and not as impressive as the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi but still wort attention. It is said to be the most photographed mosque in Dubai. Opened in 1975 is prepared to receive around 1200 believers. It has two minarets and although built of modern materials, in its apperance it refers to the style of Fatimid dynasty ruling north Africa in 10-12th centuries. It’s one of the 3 mosques in Emirates that let non-muslims inside – it takes part in the Sheikh Mohammed’s, its founder, „Open doors. Open minds” program. Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the mornings there are tours available at 10:00. Some sources say that children until 5 are not allowed inside but we didn’t have a chance to check since we arrived there only in the evening.
- Iranian mosque in Dubai – this is a fabulous mosque, completely different than the other mosques in Dubai. It’s built in persian style, covered with green-blue mosaic with floral motifs. Now it’s decorated with UAE flagues which in our opinion a little spoil the view of the facade.
Internet is full of different information about this mosque but we cannot help feeling that they refer to some other mosque. That includes the directions as well. The one that you see on above pictures is located in Bur Dubai right in the back of Bur Dubai souq.
- Grand Mosque in Dubai – it’s located in Bur Dubai area just next to the oldest building in Dubai – Al Fahidi fort (1787). The mosque was originally built in 1900 but the building we are seeing today is just a copy of original one which was demolished. It has only one minaret but it is 70-meters high. Roof is covered with 54 different sizes domes what is barely visible from the street. Building is rather simple, with not too many decorations. Only right above the main entrance there is some brown ornament on white background. It has the capacity of more than 1000 people. Non-muslims are not allowed to visit.
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