The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, located in the heart of Muscat, the capital of Oman, is the tallest and most beautiful mosque in the country. The mosque was inaugurated on 4 May 2001. The mosque was built by the then Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed of Oman to celebrate three decades of his rule. In 1993, a competition was organized for engineers to determine the design of the mosque.
Sultan Qaboos decided to build the mosque in 1992. Designs were selected through competition the following year. Famous domestic and foreign designers participated. Construction started in 1995. The famous company Carlyon Alaoi is responsible. Important buildings of Oman like Muscat International Airport, National Museum, Majlish, Royal Opera House are built by this company.
The mosque was built in six years and four months under the supervision of the architect Mohammad Saleh Makiya of Iraq and the Qud Design Company of London. 20 thousand workers work. Famous and expensive materials from different parts of the world are used. 30 thousand metric tons of best quality sandstone is brought from mines in India.
The magnificent mosque has the world’s second-largest chandelier and second-largest carpet, although the Guinness Book of World Records once claimed the title for the world’s largest carpet and chandelier, but was later lost. The record for the largest carpet was surpassed in 2007 by the installation of a larger carpet at the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. And the chandelier record was missed in 2010 after the largest chandelier was installed in the lobby of the Al-Hatmi Building in Doha, Qatar.
On the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, iftar is arranged for thousands of fasting people every day in this mosque, citizens from different parts of Muscat come to eat iftar here. The mosque is now a major tourist attraction in Oman for its beautiful architecture. There is a crowd of world tourists throughout the year. It is the only mosque in Oman that non-Muslims can visit.
This mosque is the tallest building in Oman. One of the four minarets of the mosque is 90 meters high. Apart from this, five special pillars have also been installed in the mosque as a symbol of the five pillars of Islam. It is also the largest mosque in Oman. 20,000 worshipers can pray together here. 6,500 worshipers can pray in the main prayer room, 8,000 outside and 7,500 in the women’s room.
One of the world’s largest chandeliers hangs in the Sultan Qaboos Mosque. Made in Italy, the 24-carat gold-plated chandelier contains six lakh Swarovski crystals and 1,122 bulbs. It is hung in the main prayer hall of the mosque and there are 34 similar smaller chandeliers in the mosque. The main prayer room is covered with 21 ton hand-made carpets. 600 Iranian women made the spectacular carpet over four years.
Another example of the magnificent beauty of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is the 5 minarets, originally a combination of five minarets symbolizing the five pillars of Islam. A large one of 300 feet height flanks the central dome and four smaller minarets of about 150 feet height stand at the 4 corners of the mosque. Apart from this, the mosque complex has a two-storey library, which is also one of the cultural centers of Oman. The library has more than 23 thousand 342 books on various subjects and the number is increasing every year.