For my final day in Oman, I had a free morning (and still use of a car due to the principal’s extraordinary generosity). At his suggestion, I decided to visit Muscat’s largest mosque, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Masjid, which was open to visitors from 8:00am to 11:00am.
The drive from my hotel to the mosque was a relatively short 12 kilometres. I had noted the dress requirements to enter the mosque, so suitably attired I parked in the visitors’ car park and took the surprisingly long, circuitous walk to the entry gate.
The mosque is a fairly recent construction, having been completed in 2001. To say it is huge would be an understatement. It has five minarets, one of which is 90 metres high, the other four being 45.5 metres each. The central prayer hall is a square 74.4 by 74.4 metres, with a central dome that rises 50 metres above the floor. The building covers an area of 40,000 square metres on a site of 416,000 square metres, and its total capacity is some 20,000 worshippers.
Architecturally the mosque was magnificent, and the fact that non-Muslim visitors were welcomed so warmly (and free of charge) was a beautiful expression of the hospitality and relaxed tolerance that I had experienced in so many places through Oman during the previous week.
That afternoon I drove to the school to return the car and have a final working meeting, which was conducted most enjoyably for a few hours as the sun went down at a little beachside café overlooking the Gulf of Oman.
It became apparent that a further trip would probably be needed to Oman to follow through the next stage of my work with the school. There’s no better state-of-mind to leave Oman than to have the hope of returning one day before too long.
