At the beginning of Al Wasl Road in Dubai, not far from the famous Jumeirah Mosque and close to 2nd December Street, is a striking structure that most residents of the city are familiar with.
Officially named Imam Hussein Mosque but popularly known as the Iranian Mosque, the building is a dazzling display of Kashani, the decorative Iranian art of ceramic mosaic tiles commonly seen in holy buildings and shrines.
When he designed the mosque more than 40 years ago, architect Seyed Reza Mohit says he wanted to bring Iranian visual culture to Dubai. “I wanted to have the spirit of Iran here in Dubai,” he tells The National. “Iran has some problems and sometimes tourists are afraid to come. But they go to Dubai, which is a peaceful, nice and modern place, and here they can see something very nostalgic, unique, pure and correct.”
Mohit describes the building as a work of art completely enveloped in the aesthetic concepts of Iranian mosque architecture. “I wanted people to see Iranian architecture in front of them in Jumeirah in Dubai,” he says.
Upon arrival, worshippers and visitors walk past iron gates and then through an outdoor tiled porch towards the mosque, which is framed by two palm trees and two minarets. A set of wide but steep steps lead to the magnificent mosque entrance – a pointed arch set within a tall rectangular block.
The pointed arch is echoed in the shape of the main wooden door and the two narrower windows flanking it. The windows' decorative mesh design repeats the mosaic patterns of the tiles. The mosque's main silhouette is a linear geometric design, with no curved edges, and the dome is concealed behind the large rectangular entrance block. Despite this, the structure still feels welcoming and open.
This is because the two minarets on each side of the mosque include curved lines, small dome-like shapes and muqarnas. Muqarnas are three-dimensional decorations in Islamic architecture, similar to the shape of honeycombs, that sit in rows or tiers on top of one another. They create an overall sense of repetition and balance throughout a facade, and their curved, recessed form gives a sense of depth.
The Kashani mosaic surface, mostly blue, covers the entire exterior of the mosque and continues inside, creating a cohesive, inviting aesthetic flow. The mosque glows in an array of shades of blue through the mosaic floral and geometric designs that also include verses from the Quran.
“All the tiles which you see on this design are handmade and each one was checked by me,” Mohit says. “The calligraphy, the colour, the combination of the nostalgic designs of Iranian design, I chose them and I worked with the builders and makers of the tiles in Iran to create the design.”
He explains that all the tiles come from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, known for its architecture and its rich history as a centre of tile-making artistry during the Safavid dynasty.
Mohit was living and working in Dubai in the late 1970s when he was approached by an Iranian delegation to build a mosque on Al Wasl Road. Aside from being a partner at Today Engineering Consultants, he was also teaching architecture and had won awards for his work in Iran.
There was a smaller mosque on Al Wasl Road but it did not meet the needs of the community. That building was partly demolished and the current mosque is an extension of the original. It took Mohit one year to design the mosque and then another three years to finish the structure.
Imam Hussein Mosque sits in an area of 6,000 square metres with the main structure occupying 2,500 square metres. It can accommodate more than 1,000 people and contains several rooms and halls including a library.
When the mosque was conceptualised, Jumeirah and the larger Dubai city mostly consisted of low-rise, simpler buildings, Mohit recalls. His plan was to build a mosque that would not only capture the public's attention but would also represent Iran and fit into the landscape of Dubai.
The colour blue became a thread that not only connected Iran and Dubai but also architecture and religion too, he says.
“Blue in Iranian cultural designs and architecture is the dominant colour,” he says. “The reason is that Iran is a desert. Iran doesn't have the greenery as much as Europe or somewhere else and the sea isn’t close either. It's all desert. That's why in the centre of Iran, which is the main location for this type of architecture, they use blue to remind them of water.”
The colour blue also has great prominence in Islamic culture. It represents the sky and heavens, as well as the idea of leaving the material world behind and focusing on ascension to a higher state of self. It is considered a calming colour, associated with purity, that can help worshippers relax and focus on their prayers.
Despite the differences between the UAE and Iran, Mohit saw a connection in the location of the mosque on Al Wasl Road, which he says is uniquely located between land and sea and is busy with people.
“That's why when I was designing the mosque I was thinking of monumental architecture,” he says. “The worship or praying inside is the second function when I was designing. The main thing was bringing a sparkling architecture, pure Iranian architecture in the middle of Jumeirah. This was my concept.”
