We visited the beautiful, and huge, white marble Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque in November 2025. The best advice we got was to visit around sunset, as you'll get to see the mosque in daylight, and then see the spectacular lighting that they designed for the mosque at night also.
[I always want to point out that these photos look far better on a TV, computer, or tablet screen than a phone screen, even though it's inevitable in today's world that most people will view them on a phone. :( ]
To visit the mosque as a "Non-Worshipper", you must enter via the giant glass eggs at the far edge of the stadium-sized parking lots, descending by escalator into a white marble underground shopping mall, with all sorts of food, clothing, and souvenir shops. Within this mall, you can get your tickets at digital kiosks that ask where you're from and how often you visit. Then you can proceed through a long underground passage to the start of the tour. For those who can't walk that far (about a quarter mile), there are electric carts like the ones in airports to carry you, though I got the impression you have to pay for that service. Also, there is a wait going back, as there are only so many carts, and a lot of visitors.
The visit starts outside the giant central courtyard, in front of this arched entryway. I love how these arches curl inward at their lowest point. As you can see, they really went all out on providing lighting designed to perfectly highlight the shapes and textures.
On either side of this giant archway, there were two large reflecting pools in front of colonnades of arches.
This was just about when the sun was setting. You can see reflections of the domes and minarets in the water. The pool has a checkerboard pattern of light and dark blue tiles on the bottom.
Looking along the facade of the main entrance up to one of the minarets. I carefully timed to photo to capture the jet passing across the sky just between the minaret and the building. LOL.
A closeup of the floral relief carvings on the central entry.
The view from inside the central entrance dome. The large white dome in the background (framed by the arch in the lower portion of the photo) is the main dome of the mosque. It's way across the main white marble courtyard. This gives you an idea of the size of the main courtyard. The floral designs seen above and below could be attributed to the influence of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. There are floral designs of inlaid stone in many parts of the Taj Mahal.
The view looking sideways down one of the front colonnades. This is inside the area just behind the blue pools in the photos above.
Another view across the central courtyard to the main dome, surrounded by other domes and flanked by a minaret. The minarets all have speakers mounted on them facing in all directions to broadcast the call to prayer. We heard the evening call to prayer, and the voice was quite good. I imagine the best in the country are invited to be the "muezzin" (singers of the call to prayer) here.
Looking straight up under one of the small side domes. It looks a little psychedelic here, and it looked even more so in person, like it was somehow a view into the infinite - as if it were floating in space. Pretty amazing lighting effect.
View down the side colonnade. The people on the other side of the rope are on the "Worshippers' " path, which is separate from the path we were on. The ropes separate the two paths. The Worshippers' path leads to an area where a service was in progress. As you can see, they were dressed appropriately. Notice the colorful floral patterns on the lower portions of the columns. These are almost identical to patterns found in the Taj Mahal.
A spectacular combination of dome, chandelier, and archway. All custom-designed for this mosque. The pentagonal shapes may refer to the five pillars of Islam. One of the five pillars that most non-Muslims are familiar with is the "Hajj" - a pilgrimage to Mecca. Devout Muslims are expected to complete all five pillars over the course of their lifetime. The others include a declaration of faith in Allah, fasting during Ramadan, giving alms to the poor, and praying five times per day.
Finally, a view of another of the reflecting pools about an hour later, when the sun is fully set. The strange blue lighting is coming from spotlights mounted in the fully integrated white marble light towers that the architects designed as a part of the mosque from the beginning.
The reflecting pools are reminiscent of the pools at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Clearly the Alhambra was one of the key inspirations for this mosque.
I hope these photos convey some of the spectacular beauty you can find at the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Like the great Catholic cathedrals, it impresses with its opulence, symmetry, grandeur, and artistic cohesion. Anyone who visits Abu Dhabi should make time to go see this place in person. Timing your visit for sunset will make it even more amazing.
