Diljit Dosanjh visits Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque: Know its historical significance

The mosque was envisioned by the precocious Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding begetter of the United Arab Emirates. He aimed to make a abstraction that represented the moderation of Islam, conveying messages of peace, tolerance, and diversity.

The archetypal considerations to physique the Mosque began successful the precocious 1980s, the operation began connected November 5th, 1996, and it opened for worship connected Eid Al Adha successful the twelvemonth 2007.

The operation of the grand Mosque took astir 11 years and its plan and operation made usage of artisans, craftsmen, and materials from each implicit the world, including Italy, Germany, Morocco, India, Turkey, China, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Greece. More than 3,000 workers and 38 contraction companies participated successful the  construction.

The website besides mentions that the domes diagnostic axenic achromatic marble cladding, bulb shaped ‘crowns’, and crescent-shaped finials decorated with gold-glass mosaic. The mosque’s minarets harvester Mameluke, Ottoman and Fatimid styles successful a mode that fuses divers Islamic architectural styles into 1 look of creation and beauty. Another important diagnostic is the creator solid work. Mosaic, carved and sand-blasted solid displays accepted Islamic designs of symmetry and repetition.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is situated betwixt the 3 main bridges connecting Abu Dhabi to the mainland – Maqta, Mussafah, and Sheikh Zayed. While the regular visiting hours are from Saturday to Thursday, 9 AM to 10 PM, connected Fridays, it remains unfastened from 9 AM to 12 PM and reopens astatine 3 PM and remains unfastened till 10 PM.

They connection escaped guided walk-in tours each time that instrumentality 30 to 45 minutes. These tours are led by an authoritative cultural tour specializer who takes radical astir the mosque, explaining assorted elements of the architecture and Islamic culture.