Its prayer hall has a capacity to host 500 worshippers.
Thousands of Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) residents flocked over to the neighbourhood’s first Friday sermon held at the new mosque called Masjid Al Sayed Muhammad Yusuf Sharaf.
Located in the area’s District 12 and next to the newly opened Five Jumeirah Village Hotel, its prayer hall has a capacity to host 500 worshippers. The mosque, however, does not have a dedicated parking area and is short walk for those living in the same district. It officially opened earlier this week and on Friday, it hosted its biggest gathering, one of the mosque’s cleaning staff told.
Residents expressed their delight on the community Facebook pages after many shared the mosque’s location on Thursday evening to inform their neighbours.
“Great news, finally!” said Abdullah Hussein, while even non-Muslims took to the Facebook pages to share their thoughts. “Congratulations to all neighbours who were waiting for this,” wrote another resident Shruti Verma. There are two other mosques under construction in the locality, and the opening is expected to reduce the congestion on Hessa Street during the busy prayer time.
A 25-year-old worshipper Asad Muhammad, said that prior to the opening he would have to drive for over 15 minutes to head towards the closest mosque in nearby Al Barsha South. “Today it felt like it was Eid prayers as the mosque was packed, so I had to pray outside in the courtyard,” said Asad.
The opening also comes weeks before the start of Ramadan. “Now I will only have to drive for about five minutes to join the Taraweeh prayers and it is easy for me to commute from my home in District 11,” Asad added.
