Faisal Mosque islamabad

Faisal Mosque

is sited in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad. It is positioned at the north end of Faisal Avenue, putting it at the northernmost end of the capital and at the foot of Margalla Hills, the westernmost foothills of the Himalayas.

 

 It is the largest in South Asia and one of the largest mosques in the world. The Faisal Mosque is the work of well-known Turkish designer, Vedat Dalokay who won the Agha Khan Architectural Award with this assignment. It is named after the late King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, who supported and financed the development. 

Faisal Mosque is visualized as the National Mosque of Pakistan. It has a sheltered area of 54,000 sq feet. It can hold 10,000 believers in its core prayer hall, 24,000 in its doorway, 40,000 in its courtyard and another 200,000 in its neighboring grounds.

 Each of the Mosque’s four Minars are 260 feet high measure (10 x 10 m) in circumference.

What to see

The Faisal Mosque is located on an elevated area of land against a picturesque backdrop of the Margalla Hills. This enviable location represents the mosque's great importance and allows it to be seen from miles around day and night.
The mosque's architecture is strikingly modern and unique, lacking both the traditional domes and arches of most other mosques around the world.
The shape of the Faisal Mosque is an eight-sided concrete shell inspired by a desert Beduoin's tent and the cubic Ka'ba in Mecca, flanked by four unusual minarets inspired by Turkish architecture. The architect later explained his thinking to design school students:
Entrance is from the east, where the prayer hall is fronted by a courtyard with porticoes. The International Islamic University was housed under the main courtyard, but recently relocated to a new campus. The mosque still houses a library, lecture hall, museum and cafe.
The interior of the main tent-shaped hall is covered in white marble and decorated with mosaics, calligraphy by the Pakistani artist Sadeqain, and a spectacular Turkish-style chandelier.
The prayer hall can accommodate 10,000 worshippers. (There is room for an additional 24,000 in the porticoes and 40,000 in the courtyard.)
The mausoleum of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, whose 1988 funeral at the site was the largest in the history of Pakistan, is located adjacent to the mosque.