The Al-Fateh Mosque (also known as Al-Fateh Islamic Center & Al Fateh Grand Mosque) (;

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

: ''Masjid al-Fatih'') was one of the largest

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...

s in the world, encompassing 6,500 square meters and having the capacity to accommodate over 7,000 worshippers at a time. The mosque was built by the late Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa in 1987 and was named after

Ahmed Al Fateh Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن خليفة) was the progenitor of the ruling Al Khalifa family of Bahrain and the first monarch or '' hakim'' of Bahrain. All of the Al Khalifa monarchs of Bahrain are his descen ...

. In 2006, Al-Fateh became the site of the

National Library of Bahrain National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

About

The mosque was the largest place of worship in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. It is located next to the Al Fateh Highway in Juffair, which is a suburban neighborhood of

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very d ...

. The huge

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a ...

built on top of the Al-Fateh Mosque was constructed entirely of

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clot ...

. Weighing over 60 Tons, the dome was the world's largest fiberglass dome. The marble used in the floors is Italian and the chandelier was from Austria. The doors were made of teak wood from

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. Throughout the mosque is Kufic calligraphy.

Library

The library of Ahmed Al-Fateh Islamic Center has around 7,000 books, some as old as 100 years or more. These include copies of the books of the teachings of Prophet Muhammad or what is referred to as the books of

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

, the Global Arabic Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence, Al-Azhar journals which have been printed more than a hundred years ago, as well as numerous periodicals and magazines.

Tourism

Besides being a place of worship, the mosque is one of the premier tourist attractions in Bahrain. It is open from 9am to 4pm and tours are conducted in a variety of languages including English, French, Filipino, Russian and many other languages, special arrangements are encouraged for smooth sailing. The mosque is open to visitors and tourists on all Fridays.

Gallery

File:MainPrayerHallAlFatehMosque-sadoonsphotography.jpg, Main Prayer Hall from a decent height File:Main Prayer Hall.jpg, Main Prayer Hall File:Main Al-Fateh Mosque Entrance, Bahrain.jpg, Entering thru Main Gate, Open Area of the mosque File:MainEntrance GateAlFatehMosque-sadoonsphotography.jpg, Main Gate to enter the Mosque File:MainPrayerHallFromMehrabofAlFatehMosque.jpg, Main Prayer Hall standing at the Mehrab Side File:Bahrain - The Grand Mosque (4499775733).jpg, Interior of the mosque

References

External links