Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is a truly inspiring place both architecturally and spiritually.

It was a very quiet Monday morning when I visited due to Eid and the public holiday.  I approached from a side entrance near the car park and was redirected to enter from the main entrance at the front.  Glad that I did as the very friendly lady waiting at the gate helped me tie my head scarf just so.  The main entrance leads through the beautiful walled formal gardens with fountains and flowers in abundance before you walk up the marble steps leading up to a smaller (women’s) prayer hall.

At the back of the women’s prayer hall, reached by walking through the arched walkway to the right, is a large courtyard not dissimilar in design to something you might see in a monastery in Europe.  Although the floor is all marbled, the grand columns and arches have a familiar feel to them, despite the character of the geometrical tile and wall patterns being distinctly Middle Eastern.  I stand a while and marvel at the detail and the beauty in the symmetry, colour, design and scale.

From here I move to one of the many discreetly built in shoe racks on the side of the main prayer hall (musalla) entrance.  There are many prayer rooms in the Middle East where you see shoes left at the door but here there is room for some 20,000 worshippers in the complex , 6500 in the main prayer hall with an additional 750 in the separate women’s hall.  The remaining capacity is in the covered walkways, forecourt, courtyard and grounds and I take note of the rack number, just in case.

Once inside there is a hushed silence and I look up to take in the enormous chandelier and dome.  Unlike a church there is no altar or central focal point but I notice the intricacies of the decoration, especially of the main prayer niche.

The main prayer niche (mihrab) provides a place for the imam to stand when leading prayers and also indicates which wall is qiblah (indicating the direction of Kaaba, the house of God in Mecca).   It is extravagantly decorated and at the end of the aisle of carpet that leads us down the middle of the mosque and to the qiblah, opposite the main entrance.

I continue on taking in the elegance of the chandeliers, the carving on the columns and the colours in the tile and carpet.  As I look closer there are shelves built into some of the walls with books lined up along them. These turn out to be copies of the Quran with a print across the front of several books to ensure they are replaced in the correct order.

Construction of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque began in 1996 and was completed in 2001.  I take it there was a fair bit of planning involved as the immense 70m x 60m Persian carpet took 600 women 4 years to weave.  This makes it only the second largest hand loomed Iranian carpet in the world (the largest resides in the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi).  The glass is from Venice, the wooden beams for the roof (inside) are from Burma and I think they might have done Carrara out of all of its marble.  The bulk of the structure, however, is sandstone, some 300,000 odd tonnes from India.

Once back outside I locate my shoes and wander down the side arcades marveling at more intricate tile work in varying styles – Moroccan, Iranian, Egyptian, Persian, Turkish, they seem to have it all.  I gaze into the ablution rooms and find myself in a welcoming little office talking to one of the volunteers who explains the basics and beliefs of Islam to me.

I wander some more around the gardens and before I know it it’s lunch time and I’ve been here for a good 3 hours.  Time for lunch I wait outside for my husband and children to pick me up from their outing and we find somewhere to eat.  I spend the day reflecting on my own beliefs and find that although not Muslim, I am spiritually moved by the experience.

Good To Know

Make sure you’re modestly dressed or you won’t be allowed in.  This means trousers or skirt to the ankle, top or shirt to the wrist and no decolletage visible.  Ladies (and girls over 7) are also required to cover their hair so take your own headscarf.  Abayas (full length dresses) and scarves are available for hire from the gift shop although this was closed at the time of my visit.  Think about wearing slip on shoes as although there are plenty of shoe racks there are no seats for taking shoes off/putting them on.

The mosque is available for non-Muslims to visit 8am-11am Saturday to Thursday.

Would I Return?

Yes.  If I found myself back in Muscat I’d be happy to return for another visit much the same as I recently visited St Peter’s Basilica when in Rome.  I find there is always something new to see in places as inspiring as this.