Jakarta. The Joko “Jokowi” Widodo government saw Indonesia forming closer ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and mosques have become integral to the president’s relations with his Emirati counterpart Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also known by his initials MBZ.

Late last year, the Joko Widodo Mosque in Abu Dhabi officially opened its doors to the public. The mosque lies in Abu Dhabi’s diplomatic area --  on the street also named after the Indonesian president. It can accommodate up to approximately 2,500 worshippers. The Emirati government fully funded the project, with construction commencing in 2021 and eventually reaching completion last October. The mosque is built over a land spanning  3,766 square meters. The place of worship was originally a smaller mosque prior to the construction works.

A 2020 social media post by the Indonesian Embassy in Abu Dhabi revealed that MBZ was the one who instructed the construction of the Joko Widodo Mosque as a means to honor the latter’s efforts in strengthening bilateral ties. MBZ at the time was the Abu Dhabi crown prince. He rose to power in 2022 after his half-brother then-President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed’s passing.

And this is not the only mosque that the UAE has built to honor Jokowi. 

In 2022, Jokowi and MBZ inaugurated the $20 million Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in the former’s hometown Surakarta, popularly known as Solo. The mosque is a gift from the UAE to Jokowi. It sits on a 3-hectare land, and has a capacity of around 10,000 worshippers. It is also a smaller replica of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

“The two countries are getting closer across all fields, be it economy, education to the relations between the two leaders. We are so close that we have the Jokowi Street in Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed flyover in Indonesia,” Jokowi wrote on the social media platform X during the Joko Widodo Mosque’s launch last December.

“Surakarta also has the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and now we have the Jokowi Mosque in Abu Dhabi,” he said.

Both Indonesia and the UAE are Muslim-majority countries. Jokowi last met with MBZ when Dubai hosted the COP28 climate forum in December. In 2021, Indonesia renamed the Jakarta-Cikampek II elevated toll road to the MBZ flyover.