The Great Mosque in Kairouan is the most important of all in Tunisia. It is the oldest Muslim place of worship in Africa and is commonly regarded as the fourth holiest site in Islam after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. It was originally built by Oqba ibn Nafi, the Arab commander who founded Kairouan in AD 672. The mosque covers a mammoth area 135 m long by 80 m wide with a vast inner courtyard surrounded on three sides by double-aisled colonnades of antique columns. Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter the prayer hall but the doors are often kept open so you can have a peek inside.

credit: Citizen59

For over 12 years, more than 2500 people have been working at temperatures above 40 degrees centigrade, on a project that’s intended to become a national icon. The construction of the Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is destined to be the biggest mosque in the United Arab Emirates. The Sheikh Zayed Mosque was the vision of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, the first president of the United Arab Emirates. Its construction was finished after the leader’s death in 2004. The mosque, which welcomed 4.685 million visitors and worshippers in 2012, joined a line-up of 16 global attractions top-rated by users of the popular travel website TripAdvisor. The mosque is incredible in scale and execution – it can accommodate 40,000 worshippers. Each of its four corner minarets are taller than St Paul’s Cathedral. It features 57 white marble domes and a 17,000 metre square courtyard. The natural materials used in its construction include white marble, gold, semi-precious stones and crystals. The world’s largest carpet was created for the interior of the mosque – it measures 5,627 square metres and weighs 47 tonnes. The carpet was hand-made by 1,200 weavers who used 2,268,000 knots in its creation. Sheikh Zayed Mosque also features the world’s largest chandelier – one of seven copper and gold-plated chandeliers from Germany. The largest chandelier is 10 metres across and 15 metres high.

credit: slayer

Mecca is a city in the Hejaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The Kaaba is a small building and the holiest site in Islam located within the courtyard of al-Haram Mosque in Mecca. The Haram Mosque was built around it. All Muslims, wherever they are on Earth, pray five times a day in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. They must make a pilgrimage to Mecca, called The Hajj, at least once in their lives.

credit: Tab59