The mosque is named after Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nayhan, the late ruler and founder of the United Arab Emirates, and is a building of extraordinary dimensions: it is the eight largest mosque worldwide.

The Sheikh Zayed Mosque made some world records:

* The carpet laid out on the vast expanse is the "World's Largest Carpet" made by Iran's Carpet Company and designed by Iranian artist Ali Khaliqi.[4] This carpet measures 5,627 m2 (60,570 sq ft), and was made by around 1,200 weavers, 20 technicians, and 30 workers. The weight of this carpet is 47 tons – 35 tons of wool, and 12 tons of cotton. There are 2,268,000,000 knots within the carpet.

* This mosque also held the largest chandelier. There are seven imported chandeliers from Germany made from gold-plated copper and fitted with millions of Swarovski crystals. The largest chandelier has a 10 m (33 ft) diameter and a 15 m (49 ft) height.[5] The chandelier was relegated to second place when the current record holder was unveiled in Doha[6]