Al Noor Mosque

Al Noor Mosque in Sharjah is one of the most beautiful and accessible mosques in the United Arab Emirates, opened in 2005 in the Al Buhaira corniche area facing Khalid Lagoon. The mosque was designed in the classical Ottoman tradition modelled on the Sultan Ahmed Mosque of Istanbul, with a central dome flanked by smaller cascading half-domes and two slender pencil-thin minarets each rising approximately fifty-two metres. The exterior is finished in white limestone and the interior decorated with intricate Iznik-tradition tilework, hand-knotted carpets, calligraphic panels and a beautifully carved wooden minbar. The main prayer hall accommodates approximately two thousand two hundred worshippers, with additional capacity in the women's gallery and the surrounding courtyard. Al Noor is unusual among Gulf mosques in actively welcoming non-Muslim visitors through structured guided tours organised by the Sharjah Centre for Cultural Communication, which uses the visits to introduce visitors to Islamic religious practice and Emirati culture. The mosque's lakeside location and dramatic illumination after sunset have made it one of the most photographed contemporary mosques in the Gulf region and a landmark of the Sharjah corniche skyline.