Jahili Mosque

To the southwest of Al Jahili Fort near Al Jahili Oasis is a small mosque, with the inner fort built under the direction of Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, also known as Zayed the First, at the end of the 19th century.

This historic building was originally constructed with earth blocks and palm log beams and probably dates back to the foundation of the fort in the 1890s. The building’s historic fabric survives intact below a layer of mud plaster recently added during a Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT) conservation project. The mosque has a single room with an open arcade on the east side and is entered from an enclosed courtyard which, in the past, would have been covered during the summer months to provide additional shade. Within the courtyard there’s a low, stepped platform from which the call to prayer was made, and a small room which probably originally served for ritual ablutions.

In 2019, DCT collaborated with the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments to provide an imam for the mosque, allowing it to renew the announcement of the call to prayer in the traditional manner from the raised platform.