Masjid As' Sultan Said Bin Taimur

Named in honour of Sultan Said bin Taimur al Said, whose long reign from nineteen thirty two to nineteen seventy preceded the modern renaissance of Oman, this congregational mosque rises within the Bawshar district of Muscat, providing a large and dignified place of worship for the rapidly developing neighbourhoods of the capital's western fringe. Sultan Said's reign was marked by cautious fiscal policy, the defeat of the Imamate rebellion and a steady albeit conservative transition from isolation, and his name graces several state institutions and mosques across the Sultanate. The mosque here honouring him draws on the cool elegant idiom of Omani state architecture refined under his son, the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said, may God have mercy on him, whose patronage transformed places of worship throughout the country. The exterior features pale travertine cladding, deeply set arched windows framed with turned mashrabiya, and a pair of slender minarets rising to modest balconies from which the adhan is called in the unmistakably tender Omani timbre. The central dome is ribbed and finished in muted turquoise, flanked by smaller semi domes that guide the eye upward. Inside, the main hall spans a generous rectangle supported by slim marble columns with gilded capitals, the floor covered in thick maroon carpet woven with the seal of Oman in muted gold. The mihrab is a marvel of pale onyx inlay surrounded by a calligraphic band of Surah al Fatiha, and the minbar is carved Indian rosewood set with mother of pearl. The women's section occupies a gallery behind decorative wooden screens, reached by a separate entrance with private wudu facilities. Jumu'ah gathers hundreds of worshippers including many government employees who live in Bawshar, and the khutbah is delivered in articulate classical Arabic. During Ramadan the mosque committee organises nightly iftars featuring harees, thareed and dates from the royal gardens of Muscat, followed by tarawih prayers led by the imam of the mosque. Visitors are welcomed politely, dressed in clean modest attire, asked to leave footwear on wooden racks and to keep gentle quiet in accordance with the dignified Omani devotional culture.