After our visit to the cathedral, we walked to the other end of the city to visit the mosque. It was a fascinating contrast to the cathedral.
Before we entered the building, the girls covered their heads with a headscarf as a mark of respect to the Muslim god, Allah. We all took our shoes off and entered the conference room.
Ahmed, the Imam, talked to us about the mosque and shared some interesting facts.
The conference room is used for meetings and meals and there are many classrooms where pupils learn to speak Arabic and learn to recite the Qu’ran -all 6000+verses of it! Children as young as 5 or 6 begin to learn their holy book off by heart.
We then went into the main prayer hall as the noon prayer time began.
The carpet was extremely beautiful and as soft as velvet.
Gradually, men arrived as they heard the call to prayer. They then followed the Imam in different prayer stances.
Then it was back to the conference room where we were treated to a drink and biscuit.
Now we were ready to return to the prayer hall and learn about its features.
We explored other parts of the mosque