Khawr Riyām

Muscat is the capital and most populated city of Oman with 1.7million (1,400 sq miles) of the 4.5 million people living in Oman. It has always been an important trading port as well as had a wealth of oil making it a very healthy economy. Oman has been ruled by: Persians, the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire and became independent in 1951. Muscat is a beautiful, albeit small city, surrounded by the rocky Western and Eastern Al Hajar Mountains as it lies on the Arabian Sea along the Gulf of Oman. Muscat is the furthest East of all the Arab nations. Meaning they get sunrise first every day and get to pray first!

Today’s tour took us the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (the largest in Oman), which took 7 years to build as a tribute to the Sultan who had ruled for 50 years and made the country great. The minarets are the highest structure in the entire country and used to used for calling out prayer times but of course technology has made that easier, now they press a button, and a calling goes out to the area. We learned about the five minarets: the main minaret ( 300 ft) and the four flanking minarets (149 ft) representing: Allah and Muhammad, Prayer five times a day (dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night), Charity , Fasting, and Mecca. Note: he was so beloved that when he traveled, he had minimal security and never felt threatened as he took care of his people, poor and rich.

The mosque is made of stone, with doors, windows and embellishments made of wood from Myanmar and glass. More than 300,000 tons of Indian sandstone was imported for the building. The prayer hall can hold 6,500 men, the woman’s hall 750 and an additional space in the courtyards, etc adding up to room for 20,000 worshippers and is 59,536 sq’ with a dome 160’ above the floor.

The hand woven Scottish carpet has 1,700,000,000 knots, weighs 21 tons and took 4 years to create, bringing together the classical Persian Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan design traditions in 28 colors in varying shades obtained from traditional vegetable dyes, covers the 46,750 sq ft area of the praying hall. The Italian chandelier above the praying hall is 46 feet tall, weighs 8.5 tons, includes 600,000 crystals, 1,122 halogen bulbs complete with dimming system, and includes a staircase for maintenance within the chandelier. Thirty-four smaller chandeliers of the same design are hung in other parts of the building. It was interesting that the materials and workers were from all over the world. The Sultan was very much into building this global mosque and sharing the wealth with those skill workers and companies found around the world. It is quite a place to worship the Qurʾān. It does not fill up for 5 prayer times a day (except for holidays) but it often is about half full. Muslins are expected to come to a mosque whenever they can or pray at home/work but must pray all 5 times a day.

We enjoyed the tour and learning about their beliefs and worship rituals although it was over 90 degrees and Karen had to have all her hair covered, neck, knees, ankles, wrists and just about everything but her face … thank goodness. BTW, anyone can train and become an Imam and worship leader.

One interesting structure we saw was the ultimate frankincense incense burner. Oman frankincense resin (Boswellia sacra), standard Hojary grade frankincense handpicked from the Dhofar region of Oman, are considered by many to be the finest frankincense resin in the world. This tower that was built to show the power of this region exemplifies Omans leadership in the oil industry and in the frankincense cultivation. For major festivals they burn incense from here and it covers the area with perfume and smoke in many colors.Read more