Jumeirah Mosque

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to inside the Jumeirah Mosque. It is a gorgeous mosque and 2-3 times a week, they allow non-Muslims to enter their mosque with three guides, who do a presentation and then do a question and answer session. We had to remove our shoes to enter and the women had to cover their heads with scarves. I learned a lot and was very impressed with the man and two women that gave the discussion. There were about 200 people in the mosque listening to the program. We learned about the five pillars of Islam and a lot about the culture, dress, etc. In the United Arab Emirates, the government actually dictates what the Imams will talk about on each Friday. Although most Westerners kind of grimmaced at that announcement, the guides assured us it was a good thing: this made sure there weren't any Imams that were going off and teaching rogue ideas of radicalism. I would highly recommend attending this program if you can...it is called "Open doors, open minds" and was developed by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The women were both from western countries that had married Emirates. The gentleman had lived in America for several years and actually is married to a woman from Chicago. All of them had a great sense of humor and they really made the experience a lot of fun plus being very informative.