Our Correspondent
A $20 million replica of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is being built in Indonesia as a gift from the UAE to the Muslim-majority Asian country.
This was as per an offer made by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, to Indonesian President Joko Widodo during the former’s trip to the country in July 2019.
The mosque will be centre of attraction in a three-hectare plot in central Java. Financed by the UAE, it is expected to be completed by September 2022. The mosque will be able to house 10,000 worshippers at a time as opposed to over 40,000 in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
The ground-breaking ceremony was held on March 8 in Widodo’s home town of Surakarta. It was attended by Suhail Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, and Dr Mohammed Al Kaabi, chairman of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments.
Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is the Mayor of Surakarta. He also attended the ceremony along with Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir.
Abdulla Al Dhaheri, the UAE’s Ambassador to Indonesia, said the new mosque represented the two countries’ shared values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence as well as the continuing bilateral relationship.
“The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque will serve as a beacon of moderate Islam for the Indonesian people, and will be an architectural masterpiece,” he added.
The replica will be almost identical to the original, though a little smaller with four minarets and a central dome surrounded by four smaller domes. Indonesian detailing and local materials will be used for construction where possible.
The UAE will also sponsor in the premises an Islamic centre for teaching Indonesian clerics the importance of religious moderation.
Last year, Sheikh Mohamed said a mosque will be built in Abu Dhabi’s diplomatic area in honour of the Indonesian president. He also renamed Al Maarid Street, behind Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, as President Joko Widodo Street, in recognition of the leader’s role in strengthening ties between the two countries. The road was inaugurated in October coinciding with the anniversary of Widodo’s election as president.
During Widodo’s trip to the UAE in January 2020, the UAE pledged to invest about $23 billion in Indonesia – through a sovereign wealth fund designed to finance infrastructure and energy projects – including in the country’s new capital in East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.
