Tour of the Grand Mosque

So, we finally toured the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. 

W.O.W.  The place is absolutely incredible.  There are tours offered throughout the day and when you first get there you are separated into men and women so you can change.  You need to have your head covered and shoulders and knees (I think).  So if men are in shorts, they are given the long white outfits to wear (dish-dash) and women are given the long black dresses (abayas) and head coverings (shaylas).  After you are dressed then you are joined together for the tour.

There are GIGANTIC chandeliers.  The rugs are unbelievable.  The one in the main prayer area took years to finish being handwoven.  If you look closely you can see raised lines in them and this is where they stand for prayer.  You file in and when the line fills, you move to the next one.  There’s no going to where you want – it has a specific order.

The gigantic rug has a beautiful ceiling above it and when you look up, you can see that the rug matches the ceiling.  Where the petals of the flowers are above, the mirror image is under your feet.

You will also see a prayer clock that shows the times of prayer during the day.  You can see it in Arabic and in English.  The times change every day depending on the moon

                                  

   

                                 

                                                          

             

 

CEILING

 

 

FLOOR

 

                                                 

                                                 

              

                             

Here’s the bathroom. This is for washing your feet.            

This is what some of the “toilets” look like everywhere in Abu Dhabi.  Thankfully we have the kind we are used to around as well.  Maybe it’s so you can just lift your Abaya and go???