Rihanna asked to leave Abu Dhabi mosque over 'improper' photo shoot

Rihanna was asked to leave Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque after posing for photographs considered at odds with the sanctity of the site.

The 25-year-old singer has not commented on the actions by staff at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

Photos posted on Instagram show the singer posing on white marble, dressed fully in black, with her hair covered according to the mosque's guidelines.

The mosque, a major tourist site in the United Arab Emirates' capital, said Rihanna was in an area normally off limits for visitors. It said the fashion-style photo session violated rules on the "status and sanctity of the mosque."

The mosque, which is the largest in the UAE and can hold more than 40,000 people, said in a statement: "In the event of behaviour that violates the moral codes of access to the mosque, or other visit regulations – such as taking inappropriate pictures, posing in ways that are improper in the context of sacred place, talking loudly, or eating – the violators are directed in a polite manner that reflects the civilisational and tolerant attributes of Islam.

"Here, the Centre refers to a recent incident, involving a singer who came for a private visit to the mosque, at a gate that is not reserved for visitors, without prior coordination with the Centre’s management and without identifying herself."

The singer previously courted controversy when she was reprimanded by a farmer during a racy video shoot.

She was ordered off a barley field owned by Alan Graham, 61, who claimed 'her behaviour was inappropriate' in September 2011.

The filming was taking place close to a busy dual carriageway when she stripped to a bikini after removing a long checked dress. But the sight became too much for Mr Graham's Christian beliefs and he politely asked the filming to stop.

The farmer had agreed to the recording but did not realise how risque the shoot would be.

He said today: "I realised things had got to a stage which were not acceptable to me, Things became inappropriate and I asked the film crew to stop.