Iranian Mosque, Bur Dubai, Shia hosainia in Bur Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Iranian Mosque Hosainia, also called Ali Ibn Abi Talib Mosque, stands near the old Textile Souk in Bur Dubai. Its facade is covered in Persian faience tilework on an azure blue ground with floral patterns and Quranic calligraphy in rosettes of green, yellow, red and white. The building has an onion dome and a tapering minaret.

The mosque was built in 1979 and is also known as Ali Ibn Abi Talib Mosque, named for the central figure of Shiism. It was founded by the Kharashiya, who migrated from the eastern coast of the Arabian Gulf, and it grew from the city's Iranian community. A second Iranian mosque in Satwa follows similar Shia inspiration.

The mosque is a hosainia, a Shia assembly hall as well as a place of prayer, and it is also called Ali Ibn Abi Talib Mosque after the figure central to Shiism. Its founders were the Karashiyya, who moved to Dubai from the eastern coast of the Gulf. Quranic calligraphy is set in rosettes among green, yellow, red and white swirls on the azure tilework.

The mosque stands near the old Textile Souk in Bur Dubai, on Imam Ali Street, a short walk from the creek waterfront. It is an active Shia hosainia, so visitors should time a look at the tiled facade outside prayer times and dress modestly.

Although the mosque clearly shows Persian features, it stands in a neighbourhood that was historically shaped by trade between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, making Persian influences in local buildings once quite common. Today this building is one of the few remaining traces of that heritage still visible in old Dubai.