To whom much is given...

Regular readers know all about Sheikh Zayed, founding father of the UAE and head of the royal family of Abu Dhabi until his much-mourned death in 2004. Some of you may even know that one of his last acts as sheikh was to commission the builing of a beautiful new mosque, a multi-million dollar extravaganza of gleaming white egg-cup domes, a forest of columns inlaid with mother of pearl and the world's biggest carpet AND world's biggest chandelier adorning the main prayer hall. (See the Sept 2008 and December 2008 entries for more details.)

Sheikh Zayed was a dedicated Muslim who probably loved Allah as much as the next person. The only difference between him and the super of my building (the be-scarved Mr. Aziz) was the wealth that comes from 8 percent of the world's oil reserves. As most public buildings commissioned by a single person, the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi speaks volumes about its patron--many more volumes, perhaps, than said patron intended. As a result, the mosque has come to symbolize the glorification of a deity, the growing status of a city, the fine taste of a family and the expansiveness of a ruler, among other things. Needless to say, no expense was spared.

But the Sheikh Zayed Mosque is more than a stunning prayer hall toured by school kids and tourists, but mostly empty outside of holiday times. I discovered yesterday that the sheikh may have outdone himself with the Turkish tiles and reflecting pools, but he also created a home for an equally stunning show of generosity.

Every night during Ramadan (that's a whole lunar month), the mosque is host to a gathering of over 10,000 people who come to break their fast at its nightly Iftar. Fire up those mental calculators and you'll see: that's about 300,000 meals total prepared by the UAE Armed Services and distributed at the mosque. A group of us went yesterday to check it out. What we saw were 12 huge marquee-style tents (with a/c) filled with men (many of them laborers in the city) sitting on the floor and eating. There were so many that some gathered outside. Their dinners came in large boxes, and almost everyone was carrying around a plastic bag of leftovers. After the crowd finished eating, some left on the large buses that would carry them back to their camps for the night. Others said their evening prayers among the tents or headed into the huge mosque.

Giving of alms is one of the main pillars of Islam, and it was heartening to see such an eye-popping example of generosity in the shadow of such an eye-popping example of wealth. It reinforced my belief in the sincerity and power of Ramadan, at least in one, inlaid-mother-of-pearl, Turkish-tiled corner of town.