Features mixture of architectural styles
[Abu Ghosh, Israel] — The several dozen men who gathered for the noon prayer at the spanking-new mosque in this Israeli-Arab village just a few miles west of Jerusalem prostrated themselves on the luxurious carpet and then rocked back on their heels in unison, as the imam chanted “Allahu Akbar.”
The men were dwarfed by the high-domed ceiling, with gold-leaf verses from the Qur’an painted on the inside of the dome. This huge mosque was built mostly with donations from Chechnya, as many of the 8,000 residents of the village trace their ancestry back to Muslims who came from the Caucuses. The head of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, came to Israel for the inauguration ceremony.
The mosque cost some $10 million to build, $6 million of which came from Chechnya. With room for some 3,000 worshippers, it is the second-largest mosque in Israel, just after the iconic Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. The mihrab, which indicates the direction of Mecca, as well as the minbar, the imam’s podium, are decorated with 21-karat gold. The mosque’s gold alone cost about one million dollars, says Mohammad Salim Jaber, the secretary of the Abu Ghosh Mosque Association.
“This mosque will put Abu Ghosh on the map, not only in Israel, but in the whole world,” Jaber, a soft-spoken man who also works as the imam in Abu Ghosh’s smaller mosque, told The Media Line. “We invite everyone in the Islamic world to come here and visit Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and then to come visit us.”
It is a mix of architectural styles, with Mamluke-style arches, Chechen towers, and Turkish-style heavy wooden doors. The four floors also have a large lecture hall and a women’s gallery, as well as state-of-the-art technology. It is the only mosque in Israel that is fully handicapped-accessible.
When it is time for cleaning, built-in vacuum hoses come out of the walls. Touch screens monitor temperature. Muslims must wash before prayer and special faucets in the bathrooms make sure the water does not splatter.
Until this mosque was built, the village’s 8,000 residents would gather to pray in a much smaller mosque in the center of the town. On Fridays, when many Muslims come to the mosque to hear the weekly sermon, the mosque was jammed, with many worshippers forced to pray outside.
The new mosque with its four tall minarets has room for 3,000 to pray.
“The architecture itself in Islam is not really important — what is important is the Qur’an and the sayings of God,” Mazen Othman, an architect who attended the prayer in the mosque told The Media Line. “At the same time, the beauty that you see here can be an aid to religion.”
Othman said that because of the crowding in the small mosque, residents of Abu Ghosh often went to other villages for prayer. Now he says, Muslims from around the world will make their way to this small picturesque village to see the imposing mosque.
The Israeli government donated the land for the four–story building. Chechen officials oversaw every phase of the construction, and brought craftsmen from Turkey to complete the work.
“It is built in a unique style of all nations,” Tamir Mejidov, the Chechen liaison for the project told The Media Line. “We love Israel and bless Israel and think this is one of the nicest places in all of Israel.”
Mohammad Salim Jaber says it can also be a place for Israelis to learn about Islam. Abu Ghosh has long attracted Israeli vacationers who come for the famous humus, and to visit an ancient church in the village. Israelis have begun to come to the mosque too, after seeing reports on Israel Television.
There has been some opposition from the mosque’s Jewish neighbors in nearby villages. The four minarets loudly broadcast the call to prayer five times daily beginning at 4:30 a.m., and some have complained about the volume.
Jaber says they are working on a solution that will allow village residents to hear the call to prayer without disturbing their neighbors. He says Jews and Israelis are welcome to visit the new mosque.
“We have groups coming almost every day,” he said. “There is nothing in Islam that forbids Jews from entering a mosque. But they must wear appropriate clothing (women must wear long sleeves and cover their heads), and then they are most welcome.