2013-12-07

【Aiden in English】

       When Mom and I got back from Dubai International Airport and checked in Raffles Hotel, the first thing I did was to go to bed. Just as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep like a log.

       As Mom woke me up at the crack of dawn for the tour, I tumbled around for awhile and still half asleep. After a brief breakfast, we hopped onto a city tour bus to Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE where we would be seeing Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque or the Grand Mosque, which was the largest in the nation where Muslims prayed at least 5 times a day.

      When we arrived, my mouth draped open like a stone. The Grand Mosque was literally a giant palace in Arab, Persian, Mughai and Moorish style plus some modern decoration like Greek marbles, German lights, Turkish ceramics, Iranian hand knotted woven carpet, etc. The entrance was a huge overhead door that was decorated with pictures of flowers derived from the country. But that wasn't all. The doorway led to a vast courtyard that had a marble floor and huge pillars with engraved flowers. I thought that looked as cool as it could get, but the courtyard couldn't even be compared to the hall inside. Three tremendous crystal chandeliers were hanging from the domed ceiling from above. It was a mix of colors that seemed to make each other blend. If you stood under it, the crystal chandelier looked like a flower in full bloom with red petals and green outline. On the walls, there were pictures of flowers and columns covered in gold. Every time when I looked at them, the gold appeared so bright that it stood out like a hungry wolf in a herd of sheep. Now I understood why it took 545 million dollars to build this spectacular architecture in 11 years.

      As I walked on my way out, I noticed a clock on the wall that showed six different times when Muslims would pray during a day. They must be extremely dedicated about their religion because the first time Muslims had to pray was sometime around 5 O'clock in the morning. Afterwards, every 2 or 3 hours later, they had to pray again.

      Right there, I learned about the Prophets which sounded like the messenger of "Allah" because the Muslims believed that Allah gave those signs which only the Prophet could read. In addition, all Muslims were read a collection of books called the "Quran". The Quran is to the Muslims as the bible to the Christians.

      As I left the Grand Mosque, I reviewed all things I saw today. The one that intrigued me most was how similar that being a Muslim was to being a staff in a government with different levels. Some were more respected than the other and each person had to be promoted by someone else. When I thought of it this way, the Muslim was combining traditional religion and modern life as a whole.

【红霞译文】

       当我和妈妈离开迪拜国际机场入住莱佛士酒店时，当务之急就是睡觉。等脑袋刚躺到枕头上，我立刻像木桩似地昏睡过去。

       天刚亮，游览时间将近，妈妈叫醒了我。这时我睡眼惺忪，仍然处于半迷糊状态。简单吃罢早餐，我们乘车前往阿拉伯联合酋长国首都阿布扎比，重点参观全国最大的谢赫‧扎伊德大清真寺即大清真寺，虔诚的穆斯林每天都要祷告至少五次。

       集中体现穆斯林风格的大清真寺宛若一座雄伟辉煌的宫殿，叫我惊讶得张目结舌。它借鉴本土阿拉伯、东方莫卧儿、北非摩尔式建筑设计，引进了希腊汉白玉、德国水晶吊灯、土耳其瓷砖、伊朗手工编织地毯等经典装饰艺术，将寺庙打造得富丽堂皇。入口处大门上方雕饰着充满浓郁本地乡间气息的植物图案，大门内侧宽敞庭院大理石地面和圆柱上各色花卉琳琅满目，令我叹为观止。寺庙主厅三个巨型水晶吊灯从圆拱形天花板倒挂下来，灿烂多彩调色考究，更叫我眼花缭乱。如果站在下面，水晶吊灯如同朵朵绽开的花蕾，红花绿叶份外娇艳。大清真寺墙壁用黄金镶嵌的花卉图案比比皆是，每次我凝神注视，闪闪发光的金子看上去像混入羊群中饿狼一般，耀眼夺目。现在我终于明白，为什么建造这样一座雄伟建筑群要斥资五亿四千五百万大洋、耗时十一年。

       寺庙主厅里，一个标有六段不同时间的钟表格外引人注意，这是穆斯林教徒每天祈祷的标志。在我看来，他们一定非常虔诚执着，不然怎么能够坚持五点钟早起开始祷告，随后每二、三个小时又要顶礼膜拜。

       此时此地，我了解到信使先知“阿拉”教导所有穆斯林人笃信伊斯兰教义——《古兰经》，它堪称该宗教的指路明灯，正如《圣经》被视为基督徒的法宝一样。

       离开大清真寺时，我回首今天所见所闻，感触最深的就是，犹如政府工作职员，穆斯林人同样等级分明，倍受尊重的教徒社会地位也高，教徒之间彼此互相鞭策。从这个角度来说，穆斯林人将传统宗教和现代意识兼收并蓄。