The Financial District of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia

 

When I first decided to write about Riyadh's financial district and researched what information I could find online, everything felt fine. But now that I'm actually writing about it, I feel a bit like a fraud. Why? There are, of course, much better pictures online, and I only took the bus twice around the district and then we moved on. We didn't get off at the district itself, which would have been lovely, but also very time-consuming, since there are about 50 large, architecturally interesting buildings to see. A total of 95 skyscrapers are planned there.

But let's get into details. For an overview, I first looked at the Wikipedia article in English and only read the introduction [1]. It tells us that the correct name is King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD; Arabic: مركز الملك عبدالله المالي). But I got sidetracked again and first looked up what other articles were available. There was the Dutch Wikipedia article [2], which mentioned the Canadian company Bombardier, which had been awarded a contract worth US$241 million to build a monorail. And then I read the Italian article [3]. That's where I became aware of the Danish architect Henning Larsen, who created the master plan for the huge project. I had the Arabic text [4] translated, but none of these articles provides more information than the English article.

There are some interesting buildings to see, and the metro station is futuristic, like something out of a science fiction film. It really fascinated me. I was disappointed that we didn't have time to visit it, as three lines (Blue, Yellow, and Purple) converge there [5]. We were much too close from the street to get a good angle for a photo from the bus. We could see some of the skyscrapers, and there's still a lot of construction going on. The overall project is just over half complete, and more buildings are planned. The best place to get all the details is the English Wikipedia article, which provides a wealth of information. Currently, the project is estimated to cost US$7.8 billion, but comparing it to similar projects, I think that figure will increase.

Since I was very interested in the metro, I looked for better pictures, which can be found, for example, at [5]. Besides the English Wikipedia article, I would also highly recommend VisitSaudi. If I ever come back to Riyadh, which I certainly hope I will, I'll take the metro there to visit the metro station and then wander around the financial district.

 

Links and Annotations:
[1] King Abdullah Financial District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Abdullah_Financial_District
[2] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Abdullah_Financial_District
[3] https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distretto_finanziario_King_Abdullah
[4] https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B2_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D9% 83_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A
[5] Metro station
https://www.visitsaudi.com/en/riyadh/attractions/visit-kafd

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The Al Shafi'i Mosque in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

 

Its official name is Al Shafi'i Mosque (مسجد الشافعي), but it is often referred to as Al Shafi Mosque. This is similar to dropping the final "i" from "Hawaii" (which also implies a glottal stop), as is common with many haoles. The mosque is located in the Al-Mazloum district (حارة المظلوم), which lies within the old city of Jeddah, Al-Balad (البلد) [1]. It is sometimes referred to as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is not entirely accurate. Rather, it forms part of a very important section of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as "Historic Jeddah, the Gateway to Makkah." 

The name derives from the Muslim scholar, jurist, muhaddith, traditionist, theologian, and ascetic Al-Shafi'i (الشَّافِعِيّ), who lived from 767 to 820 CE [2]. He wrote the first book on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. 

Inscription mentioning 
al-Khawaja Muhammad Ali 
in al-Shafi‘i Mosque

How old is the building or the entire complex? Visit Saudi writes: “Originally known as Alateeq Mosque [(العتيق), which could be translated as ‘the old (mosque),’ although this name is questionable, it was built nearly 1400 years ago.”] [3] I admit that I was a little taken aback, as the building follows the Mughal architectural style. I then did some research and was able to consult the very readable article by Hidaya Abbas [4]. He is able to demonstrate, based on historical accounts and finds, that the mosque was originally built, probably by Umar ibn al-Khattab (عُمَر بْن ٱلْخَطَّاب), who lived from 584 to 644 and was the Prophet's father-in-law [5]. I have already mentioned him in another blog post [6]. King al-Muzaffar Sulayman of Yemen had the mosque renovated or built in 1250/1251, see also [7]. This mosque was restored by al-Khawaja Muhammad Ali, an Indian merchant who visited Jeddah in 1533. The works were completed in 1539. The minaret is the oldest surviving part of the complex – its age is estimated at 900 years. Restoration work has been carried out until recently, starting in 2014. 

The architecture is described in the two articles I cited in [4] and [7]. Article [7] also shows many details of the restoration work carried out from 2014 onwards. The stone blocks are made of dead coral, the same material used to build houses in the old city. More information about the architecture can also be found in the article in Mosqpedia [8]. 

When we came out of the souk and entered the mosque's courtyard, we hadn't expected to be able to visit the interior. However, Ahmed Bokhari (أحمد بخاري) let us in and even gave us an introduction to the mosque and Islam. These has been much hope in his eyes.

Links and no annotations: 
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Balad,_Jeddah 
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shafi%27i 
[3] https://www.visitsaudi.com/en/jeddah/stories/al-shafii-mosque 
[4] Abbas, Hidaya. (2014). Al-Jami'al-'Atiq, the Oldest Mosque in Jeddah. Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization. DOI: 10.32350/jitc.42.02 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328398199_Al-Jami'al-'Atiq_the_Oldest_Mosque_in_Jidda 
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar 
[6] The Mosque of Umar ibn al-Khattab in Dumat al-Jandal (Saudi Arabia) https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-mosque-of-umar-ibn-al-khattab-in.html 
[7] Waheeb, Sahl. (2023). Environmental and cultural sustainability of the architectural elements of two historical mosques in historic Jeddah. Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Engineering and Architecture. DOI: 10.1007/s43995-022-00011-z 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367544481_Environmental_and_cultural_sustainability_of_the_architectural_elements_of_two_historical_mosques_in_historic_Jeddah/citation/download 
[8] https://mosqpedia.org/masajid/alshafae-mosque/ 

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