Old Mosque Near Mubarakiyya
I really wanted to include this photo just to show you how very blue the sky was yesterday. The white of this mosque’s minaret provides contrast:
Just as the Sabille is placed on the street to provide water for the thirsty, the local mosques usually have a place to wash before prayers.This washing is required and is called Wudu. Some places are very utilitarian, but the mosque above, and the nearby women’s mosque, have a beautiful place for washing:
The tile pattern is intricate:
18 Comments »
Leave a comment
-
-
Stat Counter
-
Recent Comments
Ansam on Northpole Goodies Ansam on Bu Yousef’s Awesome Q8… Ansam on Q8Geek’s Sunset Pan… duznt play ... on Q8Geek’s Sunset Pan… 
Bu Yousef on Q8Geek’s Sunset Pan…
Gotta love a blue sky!
The weather was serene yesterday. Hoping it lasts without dust for a while.
That’s a water fountain, not the place where they perform Wudu’u
LOVE it, Lady!
It’s perfect today, too, Mac! Any day without dust is a great day, isn’t it?
Uh. . . .ooops. D, thank you. My mistake.
here is another person concerned about the blue sky !
it’s precious these days
i like your blog
Hi! I am sorry that I have not stopped by your blog lately. I’m starting to get overwhelmed by the internet but am trying to pick back up with my feed.
These are lovely pictures! I just love those tiles.
Loving the first pic!!
U can see where I work in the background!
Deema, I like your blog, too, and I LOVE the Architectural Catwalk you talk about - and it opens tonight? Wooo Hoooo, what a classy exhibit! All Kuwait should hear about this!
Maria - I’ve missed you! And yes, when my internet was out this morning, I got SO much done. It’s hard to find a balance, isn’t it? Did you know you and I have actually met? I bet one day we meet again.
Wooo Hoooo, Chirp! It narrows down to four buildings! I know that one is the Gulf Bank, because I like a jeweler near there. Now I have to figure out what the other buildings are! We had lunch down in the Mubarakiyya recently, with this wonderful weather. How I envy you working downtown. What a great place.
I rem this mosque, I often go there to pray as its near my office
It certainly is a glorious blue sky out there! Do they let non Moslems get near a masjid to take pictures and all ? Me and my partner, have for some years now, thought of attending Friday sermons which they have for non Moslems (read non-believers??) in English but somehow have never managed doing. We are very impressed by the mosque architecture in Kuwait notably, the Grand State mosque, the Pyramid mosque in Salmieh and above all, the Green Mosque in Dahiyat Abdalla Salem. It’s too bad we aren’t able to take our non Moslem friends who come visiting us in Kuwait to go take a look at these divine places of worship from the inside.
Incidentally, we just got back from Bali where we visited a Buddhist temple designed by a practising Christian architect. Are there similar precedents, you know of in Kuwait or Qatar, of architects outside the Muslim faith designing and planning any of the mosques here?
Truly stunning visual imagery you got there!
No kidding, Amu. I wonder if you work in the same building as Chirp? I wonder if you two know each other and don’t know it!
Anonymous - You sure sound a lot like my friend BL in a bad mood! Yes, not only do they allow us non-Muslims near the mosques, they are often very happy to have us take photos. The Grand Mosque invites us in and gives us tours.
There are some mosques in Kuwait that even have sermons in English on Friday for those Moslems who struggle with Arabic. They usually have a sign out that so indicates.
I know the other mosques, but I will have to find the Green Mosque in Dahiyat Abdalla Salem. Well, first I will have to find Dahiyat Abdalla Salem! Thank you for the tip.
I don’t know of non-Muslims designing mosques, but I would not be surprised - there are some amazing mosques out there. I wonder if any non-Christians design churches - interesting thought . . .you always stir things up, BL.
Look at Turkey - the mix of churches and mosques and yet to essentially the same design - I think that there was a muslim and certainly an Islamic component to the design of the churches there.
Bloody hell, BL - I will have you know there have been several instances of Christian architects of Hindu and Buddhist temples in the past. As a matter of fact, I have a Jewish architect friend who has designed churches and a Muslim architect from Jordan who specialises in fire temples.
Allen, Turkey still has churches? I thought most of them were converted to mosques?
OK, now I am confused, Arrested, you sound like the real BL. You and anonymous have ALMOST the same IP, but he sounds sour and more sarcastic and biting than you do. I think he has commented before. Strange. I wonder if you know each other? What’s a fire temple?
A fire temple is same as an agiary, of which there is none in the Persian Gulf…. Arabian Gulf, yes, there may be one but not one in the Persian Gulf.
A Zoroastrian Fire Temple is a place of worship for Zoroastrians.
Although Zoroastrians revere fire in any form, the temple fire is not literally for the reverence of fire: In the Zoroastrian religion, fire (see Atar), together with clean water (see Aban), is an agent of ritual purity. Clean, white “ash for the purification ceremonies [is] regarded as the basis of ritual life”, which “are essentially the rites proper to the tending of a domestic fire, for the temple [fire] is that of the hearth fire raised to a new solemnity” (Boyce, 1975:455).
For, one “who sacrifices unto fire with fuel in his hand [...], is given happiness” (Yasna 62.1; Nyashes 5.7)
There is a lot more, if you go to Wikipedia.
We sat together at the same table at sporty’s wedding. Can’t believe how long ago that was!
I wasn’t sure you remembered. Isn’t life funny, how we reconnect?