Mohammed Bin Salim Mosque


This modest mosque dating to the late 19th century has recently been painstakingly restored using the traditional building method of plaster layered over coral-blocks and beach stones. Inside, a forest of squat columns with built-in niches holds up a palm-and-mangrove wood ceiling. Altogether, the effect is intimate and rather charming; a direct foil to the massive Ottoman-inspired mosques built in the UAE today. Non-Muslims are welcome to enter outside of prayer times. Dress modestly; women should don a headscarf.

The site has been home to a mosque since at least the 18th century. The previous mosque here was destroyed by the British in 1820.


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