20. Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem
Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is an
Islamic holy place in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site that includes the
mosque (along with the Dome of the Rock) is also referred to as al-Haram
ash-Sharif or “Sacred Noble Sanctuary”, a site also known as the Temple Mount,
the holiest site in Judaism, the place where the First and Second Temples are
generally accepted to have stood. Widely considered as the third holiest site in
Islam, Muslims believe that the prophet Muhammad was transported from the Sacred
Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds
that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after
the emigration, when God ordered him to turn towards the Ka’aba. Al-Aqsa is
comes as twentieth largest mosque of the world. A mosque is a place of worship
for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name,
Masjid. The mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for prayer
as well as a center for information, education and dispute settlement. This post
features top 20 largest mosques of the world, hope you will like our effort.
read more after the break...20 photos..
19. Masjid e Tooba (Gol Masjid), Karachi,
Pakistan
Masjid e Tooba or Tooba Mosque is located in
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Locally, it is also known as the Gol Masjid. Masjid e
Tooba was built in 1969 in Defense Housing Society, Karachi is nineteenth
largest mosque in the world. It is located just off main Korangi Road. Masjid e
Tooba is often claimed to be the largest single dome mosque in the world. It is
also major tourist attraction in Karachi. Masjid e Tooba is built with pure
white marble. The dome of the Masjid e Tooba is 72 meters (236 feet) in
diameter, and is balanced on a low surrounding wall with no central pillars.
Masjid e Tooba has a single minaret standing 70 meters high. The central prayer
hall has a capacity of 5,000 people. It has been built keeping acoustics in
mind. A person speaking inside one end of the dome can be heard at the other
end. This mosque was designed by Pakistani architect Dr Babar Hamid
Chauhan.
18. Al Fateh Mosque (Bahrain Grand
Mosque)
The Al-Fateh Mosque also known as Al-Fateh
Islamic Center & Al Fateh Grand Mosque is eighteenth of the largest mosques
in the world, capable of accommodating over 7,000 worshippers at a time. he
mosque is the largest place of worship in Bahrain. It is located next to the
King Faisal Highway in Juffair, which is a town located in the capital city of
Manama. The mosque very close to the Royal Bahraini Palace, the residence of the
king of Bahrain Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah. The huge dome built on top of the
Al-Fatih Mosque is made of pure fiberglass.
17. Sultan Ahmed Mosque,
Istanbul
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is a historical mosque
in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the capital of the Ottoman Empire
(from 1453 to 1923). The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the
blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. It was built between 1609 and
1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a
tomb of the founder, a madrasah and a hospice. While still used as a mosque, the
Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction. Sultan Ahmed
Mosque is known as seventeenth largest mosque in the world.
16. Grozny Central Dome Mosque
Akhmad Kadyrov Grozny Central Dome
Mosque is located in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, and bears the name of
Akhmad Kadyrov. The mosque design is based on the Blue Mosque in I.stanbul. On
October 16, 2008, the mosque was officially opened in a ceremony in which
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov spoke and was with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin. This mosque is one of the biggest in Europe. In this mosque ten thousand
Muslims can pray at a time and its minarets reach 60m high and is sixteenth
largest mosque in the world.
15. Baitul Futuh Mosque
The Bait’ul Futuh Mosque is the largest mosque
in Western Europe and fifteenth largest in the world with an area of 5.2 acres
(21,000 m2), the mosque complex can accommodate up to 10,000 worshippers. Built
in 2003 at a cost of approximately £5.5 million, entirely from donations of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, it is located in the south-west London suburb of
Morden, next to Morden South railway station, 150 yards from the Morden
Underground.
14. Masjid-e-Aqsa Rabwah,
Pakistan
Masjid-e-Aqsa is the greatest mosque of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The foundation stone was laid in 1966 and the
building’s inauguration took place on March 31, 1972. The mosque is the main
mosque of the Ahmadiyya in Rabwah for 12,000 worshipers. The design came from
the mosque, Abdul Rashid, at the request of Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad
should occur in one Central Mosque Rabwah. The blueprint was already established
during his tenure, but because of the Caliph was not affected, the foundation
will be laid. On 28 October 1966 Mirza Nasir Ahmad laid the foundation for the
Masjid-e-Aqsa. The Friday Sermon the third Caliph 31 The mosque was opened in
March 1972. Masjid-e-Aqsa is fourteenth largest mosque in the world.
13. Masjid Negara, Malaysia
The Masjid Negara is the national mosque of
Malaysia, located in Kuala Lumpur. It has a capacity of 15,000 people and is
situated among 13 acres (53,000 m2) of beautiful gardens. The original structure
was designed by a three-person team from the Public Works Department – UK
architect Howard Ashley, and Malaysians Hisham Albakri and Baharuddin Kassim.
Originally built in 1965, it is a bold and modern approach in reinforced
concrete, symbolic of the aspirations of a then newly-independent Malaysia. Its
key features are a 73-metre-high minaret and an 18-pointed star concrete main
roof. The umbrella, synonymous with the tropics, is featured conspicuously – the
main roof is reminiscent of an open umbrella, the minaret’s cap a folded one.
The folded plates of the concrete main roof is a creative solution to achieving
the larger spans required in the main gathering hall. Reflecting pools and
fountains spread throughout the compound. Masjid Negara known as thirteenth
largest mosque in the world.
12. Id Kah Mosque, China
The Id Kah Mosque is a mosque located in
Kashgar, Xinjiang, in the western People’s Republic of China. It is the largest
mosque in China and twelfth largest mosque in the world . Every Friday, it
houses nearly 10,000 worshippers and may accommodate up to 20,000. The mosque
was built by Saqsiz Mirza in ca. 1442 (although it incorporated older structures
dating back to 996) and covers 16,800 square meters.
11. Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque,
Oman
In 1992 Sultan Qaboos directed that his country
of Oman should have a Grand Mosque. A competition for its design took place in
1993 and after a site was chosen at Bausher construction commenced in 1995.
Building work, which was undertaken by Carillion Alawi LLC took six years and
four months. The Mosque is built from 300,000 tonnes of Indian sandstone and
eleventh largest mosque in the world. The main musalla (prayer hall) is square
(external dimensions 74.4 x 74.4 metres) with a central dome rising to a height
of fifty metres above the floor. The dome and the main minaret (90 metres) and
four flanking minarets (45.5 metres) are the mosque’s chief visual
features.
10. Baitul Mukarram, Bangladesh
Baitul Mukarram is the national mosque of
Bangladesh. Located at the heart of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, the mosque was
founded during the 1960s. The mosque has a capacity of 30,000, giving it the
respectable position of being the 10th biggest mosque in the world. However the
mosque is constantly getting overcrowded. This especially occurs during the
Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which has resulted in the Bangladeshi government
having to add extensions to the mosque, thus increasing the capacity to at least
40,000.
9. Jama Masjid, Delhi, India
Jama Masjid, commonly known as the Jama Masjid
of Delhi, is the principal mosque of Old Delhi in India. Commissioned by the
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, and completed in the year
1656 AD, it is the largest and best-known mosque in India and ninth largest
mosque in the world. It lies at the origin of a very busy central street of Old
Delhi, Chandni Chowk. The later name, Jama Masjid, is a reference to the weekly
Friday noon congregation prayers of Muslims, Jummah, which are usually done at a
mosque, the “congregational mosque”. The courtyard of the mosque can hold up to
twenty-five thousand worshipers.
8. Sheikh Zayed Mosque
Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi is the largest
mosque in the United Arab Emirates and the eighth largest mosque in the world.
It is named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder and the first
President of the United Arab Emirates, who is also buried there. The mosque was
officially opened in the Islamic month of Ramadan in 2007.
7. Badshahi Mosque, Lahore,
Pakistan
The Badshahi Mosque or the ‘Emperor’s Mosque’
in Lahore is the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the
seventh largest mosque in the world. Epitomising the beauty, passion and
grandeur of the Mughal era, it is Lahore’s most famous landmark and a major
tourist attraction. Capable of accommodating 10,000 worshippers in its main
prayer hall and a further 100,000 in its courtyard and porticoes, it remained
the largest mosque in the world from 1673 to 1986 (a period of 313 years), when
overtaken in size by the completion of the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. Today, it
remains the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the
world.
6. Faisal Mosque, Islamabad,
Pakistan
The Faisal Mosque in Islamabad is the largest
mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the sixth largest mosque in the world. It
was the largest mosque in the world from 1986 to 1993 when overtaken in size by
the completion of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. Subsequent
expansions of the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) of Mecca and the Al-Masjid
al-Nabawi (Prophet’s Mosque) in Medina, Saudi Arabia during the 1990s relegated
Faisal Mosque to fourth place in terms of size. Faisal Mosque is conceived as
the National Mosque of Pakistan. It has a covered area of 5,000 m2 (54,000 sq
ft) and has a capacity to accommodate approximately 300,000 worshippers (100,000
in its main prayer hall, courtyard and porticoes and another 200,000 in its
adjoining grounds).
5. The Hassan II Mosque
Located in Casablanca is the largest mosque in
Morocco and the fifth largest mosque in the world. Designed by the French
architect Michel Pinseau and built by Bouygues.[1] It stands on a promontory
looking out to the Atlantic, which can be seen through a gigantic glass floor
with room for 25,000 worshippers. A further 80,000 can be accommodated in the
mosque’s adjoining grounds for a total of 105,000 worshippers present at any
given time at the Hassan II mosque. Its minaret is the world’s tallest at 210 m
(689 ft).
4. Istiqlal Mosque
Istiqlal Mosque, or Masjid Istiqlal, in
Jakarta, Indonesia is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia in term of capacity
to accommodate people. However in term of building structure and land coverage,
Istiqlal is the largest in Southeast Asia and fourth largest in the world. This
national mosque of Indonesia was build to commemorate Indonesian independence,
as nation’s gratitude for God’s blessings; the independence of Indonesia.
Therefore the national mosque of Indonesia was named “Istiqlal”, an Arabic word
for “Independence”.
3. Imam Reza Shrine
Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran is a complex
which contains the mausoleum of Ima-m Ridha, the eighth Imam of Twelver Shi’ites
and known as third largest mosque of the world. Also contained within the
complex include: the Goharshad Mosque, a museum, a library, four seminaries, a
cemetery, the Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, a dining hall for pilgrims,
vast prayer halls, and other buildings.
2. Al-Masjid al-Nabawi
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi “Mosque of the Prophet”),
often called the Prophet’s Mosque, is a mosque situated in the city of Medina.
As the final resting place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, it is considered the
second holiest site in Islam by both Shia and Sunni Muslims (the first being the
Masjid al-Haram in Mecca) and is the second largest mosque in the
world.
1. Masjid al-Haram, Mecca, Saudi
Arabia
Masjid al-Haram is the largest mosque in the
world. Located in the city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which
Muslims worldwide turn towards while offering daily prayers and is Islam’s
holiest place. The mosque is also known as the Grand Mosque. The current
structure covers an area of 4,008,020 square metres (990.40 acres) including the
outdoor and indoor praying spaces and can accommodate up to four million Muslim
worshippers during the Hajj period, one of the largest annual gatherings of
people in the world.
