<i>Today, life in the Emirates moves in the fast lane. In a new regular series to mark the 50th anniversary of the UAE we take a little trip back in time and see just how much the country has changed.</i> With a prime location on fashionable Beach Road, the Jumeirah Mosque is a familiar site to generations of Dubai residents, and also to many thousands of visitors to the city. A gift from the former Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, the mosque, and the accompanying Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, are a gateway to those seeking deeper knowledge of Islam and life in the UAE. As with Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Jumeirah Mosque is open to visitors from other faiths, operating regular organised tours. In the first photograph, the mosque is seen under construction in 1977, complete with an American “gas guzzler” car heading towards the centre of town. In those days, Jumeirah, already becoming a desirable residential area, was <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/living-in-dubai-s-jumeirah-and-umm-suqeim-1.1166222">transforming from a fishing village to a suburb of Dubai</a>. Travelling in the other direction would eventually take you to Chicago Beach, a gated community for the emirate's offshore oil workers and later a popular resort hotel. Today it is the site of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, although the name has survived as an Emarat petrol station. The mosque was completed in 1979. Architecturally, it draws from the Fatimid Caliphate of Syria and Egypt, with a large central dome, twin minarets and elaborate stonework, whose intricacies are best viewed in the nighttime illuminations. It can accommodate up to 1,500 worshippers but its mission is much greater than that, as expressed with the philosophy "open doors, open minds". Since the late 1990s, the mosque has operated guided tours six days a week – Fridays are reserved for worship – along with a cup of gahwa Arabic coffee and traditional Emirati light refreshments. It works in tandem with the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, founded in 1998 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the current Ruler. The centre is a non-profit organisation which offers everything from guided walking tours to talks and exhibitions. The good news is that despite Covid-19, guided tours have resumed at the mosque.
