I finally made it to Jumeriah Mosque today. It’s been on my list since I got here! To be honest, the main reason I haven’t been is that the traffic still intimidates me and while I’m comfortable driving from one place to another when I know where I’m going and know where I can park, the thought of driving to new places is not a comfortable one. Today I am brave.
I jump in the car and know that the tour doesn’t kick off until 10am. I have left myself plenty of time to navigate the traffic, get back on track if I get lost (not always an easy feat) and find a car park – the terrifying trifecta of Dubai roads. What’s more, it seems, is that all my fears were unfounded. There was a bit of build up at the usual places and I never drive anywhere without being cut off by at least on person with anger issues but all in all, it was a very easy trip. There’s also a huge, almost empty carpark across the road. I suspect this is primarily due to the early hour – unless you have to, people here don’t like facing the day too early. Even still, somehow I manage to arrive with only a few minutes to spare.
Jumeriah Mosque from Jumeriah Street
There doesn’t seem to be too many people around so I figure I might even have the tour to myself. Then I enter the majilis (meeting room), off to the side where about 50 people are milling about enjoying Arabic coffee, dates and some other light local refreshments. Clearly it’s much more popular than I had anticipated.
I don’t have time to enjoy the refreshments although we are invited to return at the end of the tour. We are lead out to the mosque and today I have dressed appropriately, having woken this morning with the convenience of my home wardrobe, rather than a small suitcase as most of those here would have done. The majority of the group are clearly tourists and borrow the readily available cover ups – abayas and hijabs (scarves) for the women and kanduras (or dishdashas) for the men.
We dribble into the mosque as we hand over our tickets (AED 20 at the door). Photos and questions are encourages so most walk around the large interior and take some snaps, mostly of the colourful ceiling and dome before settling down on the carpet or available chairs for the talk.
The information session begins and we are enlightened about all aspects of Islam as well as information about the mosque itself. This is really a cultural awareness education session and the mosque is an appropriate and interesting place to hold them.
The mosque is a copy of an Egyptian mosque (Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, which is eight times the size). Inside, the floral designs are Syrian and Egyptian.
Dome – Jumeriah MosqueDome decoration – close up
Islam is described as a peaceful religion with “submission” or “surrender” being a key feature. Examples of this can be found in the traditional Arabic greeting “salaam alaikum” which translates as “peace be unto you” with the response being “wa alaikum salaam” meaning “and unto you peace”. This strikes me as very similar to the greeting and response found in the Catholic mass “peace be with you” and the response “and also with you”.
The call to prayer starts with “Allah Akbar ” or “God is the greatest”.
Window detail
Another example of the peacefulness of the religion is in the prayer position when the worshipper prostrates themselves with the forehead and nose on the floor – a sign of complete submission or surrender to Allah (God). This is done 5 times per day, although there are exceptions. During worship, the congregation faces the direction of Mecca where the kaaba (cubicle) is found. The kaaba is important as it signifies the first spot of worship for Adam and is located at the spot and built on the foundations where Adam built that first place of worship. The kaaba is what millions of Muslims pilgrimage to and circle each Eid al Adha. The cubicle itself is empty.
Another important feature of the Islamic faith is cleanliness and as such the mouth, nose, face, hands to elbows, ears & feet all are rinsed/washed three times each before prayer. This is compared to meeting someone important or other important occasions where one would take pride in their appearance and shower and prepare themselves beforehand. Obviously if you’re praying five times per day, five showers is not always practical but a cleansing of as much of the body as possible is sufficient.
Men and women are separated during prayer. Men take the front rows of the mosque during the call to prayer with the back rows as well as a separate women’s prayer room dedicated to the ladies. This is primarily and traditionally to preserve the women’s privacy (not many women would want rows of men behind them while they’re prostrated on the floor!) and also to allow women flexibility when tending to children and other household matters.
The talk was exceedingly interesting and detailed and the question session was completely open with all questions being welcomed and answered honestly.
Jumeriah Mosque
From a purely aesthetic point of view, I’m really glad I had had the chance to visit the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat first, the Jumeriah Mosque just doesn’t compare. It’s still beautiful and interesting in it’s own right but it doesn’t overwhelm with the grand scale and decoration of it’s Omani equivalent. With this background and insight, however, I’m even more excited about getting to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi – the Grandest Grand Mosque of them all!
Would I Return?
No. I wouldn’t find it interesting enough for my own purposes to return, however, I would definitely recommend it for visitors and those interested in furthering their (basic) understanding of the Islamic faith.
A special thanks to Noor Alaraj for editing this post.
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