Everyone has a little Muslim faith inside

When you look at the Koran and read the scriptures, the sheer appearance fills you with awe; as if you are hardly worthy of even flipping thru the pages of this holy guide to life.


Margaret and I went to the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque one sunny, very warm day in May, while Aric and his dad Tom played golf with several Cisco guys. Personally, I think we got more out of the day than they did, but apparently nobody complained about chasing a small round ball in 100 degrees.

Before you even get close to the Mosque, you know it has a presence - so big, so white and so holy - even from the outside you just know that millions of dollars / dirhams were pumped into the not yet 100% completed Wonder of the World.

Margaret and I made a few faux pas before even entering the court yard. Of course we saw the black Abayas at the info desk and correctly assumed we needed to wear that over our 'not so conservative tank tops and shorts'. The scarf was a bit tricky so we just slung it over the hair and proceeded to walk right into an area - with shoes - which was not to be stepped on. OOOPS...off with the flip flops and then I suddenly felt 'barefoot and pregnant' in this long cover. The friendly guide took one look at us and thought "sigh - yet another pair of infidels who can't tie the scarf right" - so of course we paid her 10 dirhams to get bound around the head properly, for no hair to show. Don't we look like a pair of nuns?

The prayer rooms inside were more like giant carpeted halls with intricate mosaic in abalone, gold and marble. It's completely impossible to describe! The chandeliers were made from thousands of glass pieces in the colors of the rainbow.

We would have felt as if we were in the last century, was it not for an Arab woman on her cell phone, yapping away to someone I seriously doubt was Allah! And they say the Arab women can't live without their cell phones....I have seen and I believe, Lord yes indeed!

I like the simple feel - no clunky furniture - just sit on the carpet and chat or pray. Lutheran churches could do with some of that.

After a few hours in the coolness of the mosque, we drove to Lulu Island on the coastal side of Abu Dhabi and had coffee and sweet pastries, yummy, what a lovely day.

Later we met up with the guys and all had dinner while overlooking the mosque at night. It's hard to not feel a little Muslim in this place.