ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Oumar Ballo draped his legs off the backward-facing rear seat of a golf cart shuttling the Arizona Wildcats on a VIP tour of the dazzling Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a visit timed perfectly to take advantage of the sunset through the hazy, heavy Gulf sky.
The Wildcats’ senior center from Mali, and their only Muslim player, Ballo was at home.
But he was also not at home.
In this Friday, Nov. 8, 2019, photo, the sun sets behind the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“We live a three-minute walk from a mosque, so I’m pretty much used to going to a mosque,” Ballo said. “But I’ve never been somewhere like this. This place is special. Never in my life I thought I would have an opportunity to come to a place like this.”
After taking photos in the extravagant gold-accented courtyard of the Grand Mosque, named after and commissioned by the UAE’s first president in 1996 but taking nearly 12 years to build, the Wildcats took off their shoes and were ushered behind ropes into the massive main prayer hall.
There, 7,000 people can pray at one time while the mosque can handle up to 50,000 people overall.
A lone chair for an absent security guard stands in the courtyard of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016.
Inside the main prayer hall, the Wildcats stepped onto what is the world’s largest prayer rug, hand-stitched together by some 1,300 Iranian artists. They also could gaze at the 99 names of Allah, each embedded in a seamless flower design on a wall in the center of the room.
Ballo was entranced.
“I know that Allah has so many names that people worship (him with) but I were just surprised to see how they made those flowers,” Ballo said. “Each flower has Allah’s name, and then on the top there is a big Allah’s name and then a flower on top of that was empty. I’m sure it has to have a meaning.”
While the Wildcats were staring at it all, an unmistakable call to prayer blared outside. Then they walked out quietly, put their shoes back on and boarded the golf carts that drove along the edge of the decorative pools and lights just as dusk set in, giving them a mystical view into the mosque.
Ballo was so stricken he arranged to go back again at noon Friday so he could take pray there on what Muslims consider the holy day of the week.
Tourists walk through the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. The mosque is the largest in the UAE, the design was influenced by Mughal, Persian and Moorish architecture and it was built using materials and craftsmen from over a dozen countries.
“It’s like our Shabbat, you know?” referring to the Jewish break from Friday evening to Saturday evening that the Wildcats experienced last week in Israel.
The Grand Mosque is a half-hour drive from the Wildcats’ luxe beachside resort, meaning Ballo will need to punch a significant midday hole in what are often tightly packed, if enlightening, daily itineraries on their trip through Israel and now the UAE.
Maybe that’s fair enough. Ballo grew up in Mali dedicated to the five daily prayers, praying at the nearby mosque or at home if necessary, often joining family in doing so.
But throughout his basketball career, Ballo has had to make allowances for prayer, often having to make up for missing one of the five daily prayers when a practice, meeting or game calls him somewhere else.
Now, basketball was going to have to work around him.
The Arizona Wildcats' men's basketball team takes part in an impromptu dunk practice Monday at Hadar Yosef Arena in Tel Aviv. Video by Bruce Pascoe/Arizona Daily Star
