124 new mosques by next year

According to Mazrouie, there are more than 5,300 mosques across the UAE. Of these, about 2,500 are located in Abu Dhabi alone.

Of the 124 new mosques, 71 will be located in Abu Dhabi, 12 in Sharjah, eight in Ajman, six in Ras Al Khaimah, five in Umm Al Quwain, 15 in Fujairah and seven in Khor Fakkan.

"In Abu Dhabi, the new mosques will be built in Madinat Khalifa, Bani Yas, the Western region and Al Ain," added Mazrouie.

He said that the ministry had received donations for building the mosques that will be modelled on Arab and Islamic architecture and will boast of such facilities as air-conditioning, drinking water and car parks.

Regarding the location of the mosques, Mazrouie said that most of the bigger mosques will be built in residential areas and the smaller ones will be meant for industrial zones.

“We take into account the populationdensity of a place to build the big mosques and that is for the residential cities. However, the commercial areas we do not prefer to set big mosques,” he added.

The mosques are usually built to accommodate between 300 and 30,000 worshippers.

By mid 2007, the construction work of the Shaikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, considered the largest mosque in the Gulf, will be completed.

The mosque will boast of four 110 m tall minarets. It will be able to accommodate 27,000 worshippers in a prayer area covering almost 44,000 sq metres.

The mosque will also have 1,054 white marble columns decorated with precious stones.

Lots of European Muslims find Abu Dhabi particularly appealing because of the large number of mosques.

"It's great to find more than 2,500 mosques in Abu Dhabi. But it would be better to see more and more mosques being built in the capital. And when we visit the mosques in various parts of the emirate, they give an impression that you are in a civilised Arab and Islamic city," said Meera, an American Muslim living in Abu Dhabi.