2006/10/13

The Mosques of Al Ain #1

OK, as promised, here is the first post of the new series. I was going to start with the mosque at the old Safina Roundabout, but it seems most appropriate to start with the Sheikha Salama Mosque.



Sheikha Salama was the mother of Sheikh Zayed. She passed away in 1970, and the mosque was built in her memory.

The bad news is that the mosque (and really, what seems like half of downtown Al Ain) is to be torn down and rebuilt; it is now closed. This is one of the doors with a sign warning that it is "closed for maintenance". I'm pretty sure that the Arabic to the upper left says "Mohammed" and would guess that the Arabic on the right says "Allah", but the thing in the middle with all the dots has me completely flummoxed, so that may be wrong.



Above the doors are mini-rotundas with beautiful blue and white designs.



Above all the windows are what I'm guessing are Quran verses.





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Your Assumption is absolutely right on the right it is written "Allah" in the left "Mohammed"......I would like to add that the Verses shown above the window are from "Surat Yâ-Sîn." and they say:

"[54] This Day (Day of Resurrection), none will be wronged in anything, nor will you be requited anything except that which you used to do.[55] Verily, the dwellers of the Paradise, that Day, will be busy with joyful things."

I guess they were written with a referral to the late Sheikha Salama..... By the way your Blog is great,

Cheers....

Anonymous said...

As a clarification I meant that the verses were written on the window with a referral to the deceased Sheikha,

I had to add this so nobody gets confused and think that i meant it was written in Qura'an with a referral to her

Cheers.... :)

Elle said...

It's a shame that it will be demolished. I have never really noticed this mosque. It must be that I'm so focused on the traffic in that busy roundabout.

Anonymous said...

Did you know that ALL the round abouts in the city are being torn down? The wedding cake was one of the first victims of this new town plan. The dolphins are gone. What will be next.....the storks, the pearl box, the waterfall bridge on baladyia, possibly even the colluseum roundabout in front of this mosque? I am not sure why this decision has been made but I wish someone could stop this destruction of a unique trait to Al Ayn.

Brn said...

junior hawk,

Thanks for the citation of the verse and confirmation. I should have said that I'm not certain that there are not different verses above each window.

elle,

I know what you mean, especially at that roundabout. You really should park down there and take a look at it before it is gone.

anonymous,

I hear this from time to time, but have never seen it written anywhere. Has the municipality issued this officially anywhere?

Anonymous said...

Excellent pics! Thanks.

The timing of the refurbishment really sucks. Why not wait till after Ramadhan? And I hope it is a refurb not a demolish and rebuild, not least for the traffic havoc that would cause. It did need a lick of paint.

I wonder where all the people are praying (my guess about 2,000?) during the renovations.

If you're taking pics of the Moroccan style mosque, you might meet me there!

samay said...

hey neat pics!

vadakkumury said...

You cannot see this mousq there in al ain because it has been damolished , and now it is rebuiling

Brn said...

Yep, this is true Mohd. I have posted some pics of the destruction (and what re-construction had occurred before I left). You can see those photos on this page: http://bssandbrninalain.blogspot.com/search/label/mosques

Anonymous said...

Hello there , I would like to clarify about the verse you guys mentioned. It is not a referral to sheikha Salama.