{"id":815,"date":"2010-11-19T13:50:42","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T18:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tuckers.cc\/brian\/?p=815"},"modified":"2010-11-22T01:35:47","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T06:35:47","slug":"sheikh-zayed-grand-mosque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tuckers.cc\/brian\/sheikh-zayed-grand-mosque\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque"},"content":{"rendered":"

Megan and I finally had a chance to take the tour of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.<\/p>\n

Named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (the man whose dream it was to turn a desert into a world class city), the Grand Mosque is the 8th largest mosque in the world. Sheikh Zayed wanted to create not only a beautiful place of worship, but a cultural center where people of all religions could visit and learn about the Muslim religion. Megan and I found our guide to be very open to our questions and happy to have us visit.<\/p>\n

In order for Megan to enter the Mosque, she was required to cover her body using an abaya (a black robe-like garment) and her head with a shayla (a wrap). While there was no such requirement for the men, we both had to take off our shoes before entering the interior rooms. It shows because despite thousands of visitors every year, the carpets in the Mosque are in superb condition! <\/p>\n

Overall the Mosque was beautiful! Marble columns, gold inlay, custom chandeliers, the largest single-piece carpet on earth, semi-precious stone carvings…it’s quite stunning.<\/p>\n

Here are a few shots from the day…<\/p>\n