The International Women’s Association trip to the controversial al-Saleh Mosque was on Thursday morning, so I could go (Friday is the muslim sabbath, so weekends here are Thur-Fri).
“You mean the mosque built on money stolen from the people of Yemen”, Tanya yelled when I mentioned that I was going.
“Think of how many clinics and schools that would pay for,” she continued. “Only the president’s cronies would be caught dead there.”
Quite a few people in Yemen consider the mosque to be an abomination, the expense a huge drain on a poor country. But others consider the al-Saleh Mosque to be a *national wonder of Yemen*.
Named after President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the mosque was opened during Ramadan in 2008.
According to the Yemen Observer, it cost US $60 million and was “built on the president’s expense” http://www.yobserver.com/news-varieties/10014876.html
It’s said to be the most decorated mosque in the world, Mohammed, our articulate guide told us. Most of the materials used to build it are from Yemen, though some of the marble is Italian. Six tall minarets in the Turkish style. (Traditionally minarets of mosques in Yemen are much shorter.)
The huge, multi domed structure, an island glowing white in a sea of bright green grass, the largest expanse of green I have ever seen in Yemen. Inside, a massive space, dark and cool. Colored patches floating on the thick, soft carpet from bright sun through colored glass. Soaring ceilings, brightly painted domes, intricate carvings.
Aside from our group and the accompanying guards, the mosque was almost empty. A lone man praying. Young men polishing and pushing mops. Veiled women who quietly approached us, offering brochures, booklets, and CDs promoting Islam.
Silent, gleaming elevators whisked us up to the women’s section, hidden behind a double set of ornately carved wooden screens, making it difficult to see below.
Three of the fully veiled women who accompanied us knelt on the thick, deep red carpet, and one of them chanted verses from the Koran in a lovely, melodious voice.
“Twenty women of this mosque know the entire Koran in here,” a woman said, touching her heart, “and twenty more know half of it. “We must preserve it in it’s true form, not even a single letter can be changed,”
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Lovely shot!
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