Al Bidiya mosque is the nation's oldest house of worship still in regular use, and it attracts visitors interested in its long history and unique construction as well as the faithful who are convinced it is uniquely blessed. Rym Ghazal reports from Bidiya, Fujairah.
It is said to be a place where prayers are answered and miracles happen. The small, mud-brick house of worship, Al Bidiya mosque, is thought to have been built more than 560 years ago, and is alternately known as Othman Mosque after the man who built it.
"You go inside and you feel it is a blessed place," said Mohammed Ali, 54, a construction worker from Pakistan, who said he and other labourers have prayed here regularly during their work breaks for the past year. He said the pain in his joints had lessened since he started visiting the mosque. "It is very special," he said. He put on his slippers, threw a few coins into the dried-up well outside the mosque and climbed into the back of a truck to return to work.
"I have heard so many stories about the miracles that happen after praying here," said Badria Mohammed Omar, 27, a supervisor from the Fujairah Tourism and Antiquities Authority who has been overseeing the mosque for the past three years. "One local woman from the village told us about how she was finally able to get pregnant after praying for it here." The village of Bidiya lies just north of Fujairah city, along the coast and off the main highway between Khor Fakkan and Dibba.
Estimated to have been built in the year 1446, the mosque is unique in its design, with four snail-like domes held up by a massive, triangular column. Roughly square and just over seven metres wide, it has a small, fenced yard with a gate from the eastern side. A sign in the yard reads: "No entry. Only for prayers." Inside, modern copies of the Quran are stacked in mud alcoves and red prayer carpets glow in the sunlight that peeks through the tiny, flower-shaped windows along its walls.
The building can accommodate as many as 30 worshippers. There are arches under each of the four domes, dividing the roof into quadrants. The biggest dome, just over two metres tall and with four turns of the spiral, is at the front of the mosque; the smallest, at the back, is just over 1.2 metres tall and has just three turns. "The strange-shaped domes might have been constructed like this to discharge the heavy rainfall that is common in these parts," said Ms Omar.
"People have given these domes so many different names, from ice-cream-swirled domes to fairytale domes to magic domes to holy domes. So many names!" The mihrab (prayer niche) in the middle of the western side of the mosque, facing the Qiblah, is modest in structure and simple in design, with some traditional gypsum ornaments and decorations. The menber (pulpit) is small and located to the north of the mihrab. The menber is made of the same mud as the mosque.
Except for Friday prayers, an imam residing near the mosque has led prayers every day for the past three years. Ms Omar is from Bidiya village. Her office is just a few steps from the mosque and therefore is regularly visited by tourists wanting to know more about the building. "People from all walks of life and background have stopped and prayed here, even when they weren't Muslims," she said. Some visitors from other Gulf states have said there are mosques of similar design in Yemen, Qatar and Oman, suggesting that the style may have been common in previous centuries.
"The mosque has survived the various invasions and occupations, unlike other buildings here, partly we think due to its unique design and its historic significance," said Ms Omar. She produced a photo from the 1980s in which the mosque appears far paler, almost white. "One of the villagers here wanted to preserve it and took it upon himself to paint it in bright white and take care of it," she said.
The site was restored and officially inaugurated in March 2003 by the Dubai Municipality and the Fujairah Department of Archaeology and Heritage. Two watchtowers, built around a century ago on the hill just above the mosque, were restored around the same time. In Al Bidiya, a village of more than 400 houses, ancient ruins from human settlement dating back more than 4,000 years have been found. Several ancient graveyards have been discovered, some of them dating to the second millennium BC, and others to the Hellenistic period, in the third century BC.
"We may be small, but we are rich with history," said Ms Omar. Her office computer contains hundreds of photos taken with her mobile phone of the many people who stopped by to pray over the past two years. "I like to document everything and like to take photos of the many people that were touched in some way by this unique mosque," she said. After all, she added with a proud smile, "it is a mosque carrying my hometown's name".
rghazal@thenational.ae
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