The one mosque in Dubai open to non-Muslim visitors, on a guided programme designed to let you ask anything.
Built in 1979 in a medieval Fatimid style, in stone rather than the concrete of most of Dubai, with two minarets and a large central dome. It is the most photographed mosque in the city and is at its best floodlit after dark.
Its significance for visitors is that it is the only mosque in Dubai regularly open to non-Muslims, through a programme run by the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding.
Open Doors, Open Minds
The centre’s motto is “open doors, open minds” and the tour is built around it. An Emirati guide takes you into the prayer hall, explains the architecture, demonstrates the ablution and the prayer itself, and then — this is the substance of it — takes questions.
The questions are genuinely unrestricted. People ask about women’s dress, about polygamy, about the relationship between Emirati citizens and the expatriate majority, about Ramadan, about conversion, about alcohol. The guides answer directly and do not evade.
For most visitors this is the single most useful ninety minutes available in Dubai, because it is the only structured opportunity to talk to an Emirati at any length. Around ninety per cent of Dubai’s population is not Emirati, and it is entirely possible to spend a week here without a substantive conversation with a citizen of the country.
Practicalities
Tours run most mornings; check current times and whether booking is needed, as the schedule changes and has varied seasonally.
Dress code: modest clothing, shoulders and knees covered, for everyone. Women are asked to cover their hair and headscarves are provided at the door if you do not have one. Shoes come off before the prayer hall.
Photography inside is permitted and encouraged, which surprises people.
Arabic coffee and dates are served.
The centre’s other programmes
The SMCCU also runs cultural breakfasts, lunches and dinners at its house in Al Fahidi, where you eat Emirati food sitting on the floor and ask questions in the same open format. These are worth booking and are the best meal-with-context in the city.
They also run heritage walking tours of Al Fahidi.
More Landmarks
Burj Khalifa
The tallest building in the world by a margin nothing has yet threatened, with three observation levels at three quite different prices.
Burj Al Arab
The sail-shaped hotel on its own artificial island, which you cannot enter without spending money, and can photograph for nothing.
Palm Jumeirah
Ninety-four million cubic metres of dredged sand in the shape of a palm tree, now a suburb with a monorail.