The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque: Beauty At Its Peak

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a mosque located in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. It is the largest mosque in the UAE. It is a key place of worship for the Muslim worshippers in the city, as well as for the Friday gatherings for Jummah, and for the Eid prayers. It is said that more than 41,000 people are known to visit this mosque during Eid time. Also, it is among the world's most important mosques.

It is a very beautiful mosque. Both its interior and exterior depicts a rich architecture. Its magnificence clearly shows the Arab Culture. The expensive materials being used in the construction, as well as decoration, shows that spending is an Arab habit. Its construction was started in 1996 and was finished in 2007, and it cost around 2 billion dirhams (the Arab currency), which is roughly 37 thousand crore Indian rupees. You must be able to imagine how mesmerizing it would be, considering the expense on the monument. Natural materials were used for its designing and construction for their long-lasting qualities like marble-stone, gold, and very precious stones. Artisans from all over the world were called.

The project of the construction of this mosque was started by the late Emirati President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who wanted to unite the Islamic world seeing the cultural diversity among the masses and thought of doing so by establishing a mosque with historical and architectural values of architecture and art. What's exciting about the monument is its alignment. Its main axis is rotated about 11 degrees south of true west, hence aligning it in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, which is a holy place in Islam.

The mosque has an amazing grandeur with every element being unique. From the carpets to the chandeliers to the columns, and most importantly the minarets, everything is rich and fancy. The four minarets which surround the mosque, are 350 ft high and can be seen across the Abu Dhabi skyline. The carpet in the mosque's main hall, which is made in Iran, is considered to be the largest carpet in the world and is known to weigh 35 tons. Being made up entirely of wool, it took two years to be finished. Also, it is adorned with seven imported chandeliers from Germany. There are 96 columns in the main prayer hall and the 99 names of Allah are featured on the Qibla.

Its design is beautiful and is said to be inspired by several other beautiful mosques like the Persian, Mughal and Alexandrian ones. It is also inspired by the Indo-Islamic architecture of mosques. The four minarets are classically having an Arab design.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the top tourist destination in Abu Dhabi, and also one of the most popular destinations in the Middle East. Worshippers from all over the world come to visit and pray at the beautiful mosque and tourists also visit to see the mosque's grandeur. For continuously two years, it was voted the world's second favorite landmark. Overall, it is a place worth visiting once in a lifetime.