Nigerian National Mosque, Abuja
Have your cameras ready for this stop! The beauty of the Nigerian National Mosque attracts tons of tourists to come visit. It was built in year 1984 located on the Independence Avenue of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city where 80% of the people are Muslim. Muslim prayers practice their congregation in there, however it’s open to non-muslims such as travelers and architecture lovers. It is strongly recommended for worshipers to say a prayer with the congregation in the Mosque, too. As a matter of fact, even though the official language in Nigeria is English, prayers are said in Arabic. They have to pray in Arabic because the Quran is in Arabic. Islam was introduced to Northern Nigeria over seven hundred years ago. About 43.5% of the Nigerian population is Muslim and they are predominant in the northern side of the country. Even though Abuja is in the center of Nigeria, it is still ranked twentieth in the list of comparing the Muslim population percentage in each state. While for the South Western side, the percentage of Muslim population is about the same as the percentage of Christian population. The total population of Christians has outnumbered the Muslims in recent years.
Nigerian National Mosque is a tremendously gorgeous building and is considered prettiest during the night time when the city lights are on and also at twilight when people can enjoy the beauty of the masterpiece of art. This way, people will not be distracted by the sun rays that the golden, shining dome of the architecture reflects off of. At those moments, you should immediately take out your cameras to capture these wonderful scenes. However, if any visitor arrived early in the morning or at noon, they are suggested to check out the interior part of the mosque and they will not be surprised to find out that it is also as impressive. In the Mosque, it contains an Islamic library, a conference hall that is able to serve five hundred people and a religious school where Muslims will be religiously educated and the floors are kept very clean. On Fridays, there is a mini market selling Islamic clothings, books, and prayer mats that is used to place between the ground and the worshipper to keep clean. These mats are decorated with beautiful patterns such as Islamic symbols and architecture that will always draw non-muslims to buy them without hesitation. Maybe you can bring one home too!