UAE President inaugurates Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Indonesia

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed inaugurated the new Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Indonesia’s city of Solo with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

The two leaders performed a ‘greetings prayer’ upon entering the mosque for the first time and signed a commemorative plaque that will be hung in the mosque on the Mihrab – a prayer niche built in mosques to show the direction of the qibla.

The mosque is similar to Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, with incorporations from traditional Indonesian designs and was built using local materials, according to WAM.

The new mosque has the capacity to accommodate 10,000 worshippers and is home to 56 domes and four minarets, as well as 32 columns in the main prayer area, WAM reported.

“I was pleased to join President Joko Widodo in Solo, Indonesia to inaugurate the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. Named in honor of the UAE’s founding father, the mosque represents his values of peace and goodwill [and reflects] the longstanding ties that exist between our two countries,” Sheikh Mohamed said.

The Indonesian President also expressed his deepest gratitude to Sheikh Mohamed and his initiative to establish the mosque.