Al Ain ~ Visits and The Skeikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi #3

Before the Ashbys headed home, Brian—one of our wonderful Branch members—treated them to dinner at the amazing Emirates Sea Restaurant, and we were lucky enough to tag along. It was so dilly-isious 😋!  The food was divine, unique and there were many dishes that I didn't recognize but nonetheless were fabulous. I tried a Lemon Mint drink and it was tremendous and is now my favorite. It was great to get to know Brian and also have a minute to sit down with the Ashby's and just enjoy their and Brian's company.  It has been a hussle and bustle since we arrived but we've enjoyed every minute of it.

These are a few of the Branch members that we got to meet as the Ashby's said good-bye to them.  I'm afraid that I was just as emotional as everyone else with this sad exit 😢. I'm not sure how I will manage when it's our time to leave. These are already our special friends: Carla, Hygiene, Joshua, Kay, Sheila, Teena and Leena. What a fantastic group of people.

After many good-byes we headed to the Skeikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi before we headed to the airport for the Ashby's departure. The Mosque was magnificent. So beautiful and truly amazing.

These will be mostly pictures (which, of course, does not do it justice)! 

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque primarily uses high-quality white marble for its flooring, columns, and cladding, featuring over 20,000 marble panels, including Sivec from Macedonia, Lasa from Italy, and Makrana from India. It's a masterpiece of modern Islamic architecture, merging Mughal, Moorish, and Ottoman styles. Completed in 2007, its interior is an opulent showcase of global craftsmanship featuring materials like 24-carat gold and semi-precious stones. (copied this off Google search AI).

These glass and stone inlays were really unbelievable especially when you can see them up close with all the intricate details.

This is the Main Prayer Hall. I was hoping you could read the pictures but I don't think it is clear enough so I'll try to briefly tell about each symbol. The Qibla wall has 99 names of Allah, a golden mosaic Mihrab representing rivers of heaven, and an 11-step Minbar. The room is white marble with floral mosaics and 7 crystal chandeliers. The niche ~ Mihrab is in the center of the Qibla wall symbolizing the rivers of milk and honey in Paradise. The pulpit ~ Minbar has 11-steps made of cedar wood representing the continuation of religious leadership. The Carpet is the world's largest hand-knotted carpet, designed by Ali Khaliqi. There are 7 huge chandeliers with millions of crystals. The main dome is 84 meters and has  Moroccan artwork and Quranic verses. 

Bottom middle picture are worshippers at the Mosque. There can be around 78,000 worshippers at the same time in the large, open floor space. They all stand, bow, or kneel together in rows without chairs or fixed pews to symbolize equality. 

These are replicas of The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Al Fujairah and The Sheikh Khalifa Grand Mosque in Al Ain.  We haven't checked out the other 2 so we can put them on our bucket list. Not all Mosques allow visitors so we'll check it out and get back to you!

When we left our car and walked into the door of the Mosque it is an actually a HUGE shopping mall. Crazy and quite a surprise. Then you start walking to the actual Mosque. It's hard to see how far we walked down this corridor to get to the actual mosque, but it was a very, very long way, fortunately there were moving walkways that helped. On the way back we must have looked old and tired because a sweet man directed us to the golf cart and gave us a ride back 😊😏😛. These are a couple pics of the outside with the square trees and the last picture is of King Charles III with Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi in 2016, at the Grand Mosque.

It was a lovely day.

Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”