The Omar Ibn Al-Khatab Mosque is a visible reminder of Foz do Iguaçu's significant Arab community, predominantly Lebanese and Syrian families who arrived from the 1950s onwards. The mosque, completed in 1983, is one of the largest in Brazil, with a prayer hall that can accommodate around 2,000 worshippers and a minaret that rises nearly 34 metres above the surrounding streets. The architecture draws on classical Islamic design, with pale stone, arched colonnades, and a central dome.
Non-Muslim visitors are generally welcome to look around outside opening hours for prayers; modest dress is required and shoes are removed at the entrance. The mosque sits in a neighbourhood that has a noticeably Middle Eastern character, with Lebanese restaurants, bakeries selling ka'ak and baklava, and Arabic signage alongside the Portuguese. It is one of the more unusual cultural dimensions of a city that most visitors associate exclusively with waterfalls.