---
type: Place
title: Faisal Mosque
description: Islamabad's mountain-backed modern mosque, where Harry was asked for a hundred photographs in an hour and where the walk up runs through a troop of monkeys.
tags: [faisal-mosque, islamabad, pakistan, mosques, attention]
coordinates: {lat: 33.7300, lng: 73.0373}
timestamp: 2026-08-06T12:00:00Z
---

# Faisal Mosque

The great modern mosque of [Islamabad](/places/islamabad.md), in
[Pakistan](/countries/pakistan.md), set against the Margalla Hills at the top of
the city. Harry's first sight of it is at sunset — four minarets, pink cloud,
mountains behind — and his description is that it looks like something out of
Hogwarts.

*How big it is, he can't keep straight: within one video he calls it the sixth
largest mosque in Pakistan, the sixth largest in the world and the largest in
Asia (from video – unverified). All three are recorded as spoken; none is
adopted.*

## Visiting

- **Shoes off at the entrance**, and there is a proper cloakroom system — it is
  government premises, so collecting them again takes a while.
- **Sunset is the hour.** The setting is what he keeps returning to rather than
  the building: green foothills, mountains, and the valley below.
- **The best photo spots are contested.** The obvious viewpoint has trees in the
  way and the clear one is packed; he ends up shooting from the side.
- **Expect to be photographed constantly.** Around twenty requests in the first
  few minutes and something like a hundred people over an hour — Harry's own
  advice to Western visitors is to expect exactly this at the places tourists
  gather, and that it is friendly rather than intrusive. Filters, slow-motion
  walking videos and FaceTime calls to relatives all feature.
- **The walk up passes monkeys.** On the trail approach a troop sits across the
  path; one charged Harry to within half a metre while he filmed, and he was
  told afterwards that they attack in groups.

## Source

- [First Impressions of ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (My Favourite City) 🇵🇰](/videos/VfLFIsSP860.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfLFIsSP860
- [$4 Nitrogen Ice Cream In Pakistan🇵🇰](/videos/Rbr8o0ERYcI.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbr8o0ERYcI