Gaddafi Mosque
As I’ve mentioned, the massive and prominent Gaddafi Mosque is right up the road from my current residency. This past weekend I dressed up like a mzungu tourist – sunglasses and a camera in addition to my regular attire – and went for a walkabout. Given that my only real experience visiting religious sites in foreign countries has been confined to Europe and Istanbul, I was expecting some rich history and a view into some previous era of religious worship in Uganda. After the guard at the gate retrieved the napping tour guide I was given a private tour of the mosque inside and out (not sure anyone else came through that day).
Although I had not noticed from afar, the mosque is very modern. The original plans were designed during the Amin era but the site lay dormant for decades until in 2003 Col. Muammar Gaddafi of Libya stepped in to fund the entire project from scratch. At that time they scrapped the original drawings in favor of the current design. Gaddafi covered all construction costs and a generous 25 year endowment to cover operations and maintenance. He and Amin were buddies back in the day but I’m still not too sure what led him to get involved again. The mosque is beautiful but stark – and came across as slightly out of place. With prayer space for 7,000 men and 1,000 women, the interior is cavernous but on Eid – the largest prayer service of the year – the Muslim population of Kampala can barely fill even half the hall. To provide a more intimate environment they usually opt for a smaller side building for daily prayers and only use the main hall on special occasions.
Gaddafi didn’t cut any corners – the rugs are Libyan, the stained glass comes from Ethiopia, the solid mahogany doors and window trim came from the DRC, all the masonry was done by Egyptians flown in for the job. The bright sunlight filters through the soft yellow, blue and green glass to light the room nicely – but my guide insisted on showing off the chandeliers which when fired up cast down the sharp white glare of 1,000 little CFLs. It’s beautiful, but in a different sense. The guide made multiple comments about the inability for Uganda to cover even maintenance of such a site, much less the construction.
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