Islam and Christianity

Today's first stop was to the Suleyman Mosque (built by Sehleman), which was the largest place for praying, and in past times, a place for socializing. You would see children playing, but now it is the quietest mosque in Istanbul. 

We needed to take off our shoes and cover our heads with a scarf. I found this interesting because we were obviously a large group of tourists who didn't necessarily follow the Islamic religion. 

A common attribute of all of the mosques is that the altars always face Mecca (the holiest city of Islam located in Saudi Arabia). 

Now to give some history/ fun facts about Islam:

Islam means to "surrender yourself."

God has 99 names, and the 100th name is hidden from every one of us. 

26,000 prophets came to earth... some we know, some we don't, 

Muhammed being the last prophet.

Men and women cannot pray side by side. 

Praying with music is common.

Green is the color of Islam. 

It is a religion of tolerance.

Turkey is a secular country, buuut...

Mosques are taken care from the government. 

There "preachers" (not quite sure what they are called for this religion) are paid by the government. 

The government appoints them, and the Friday sermons are determined by the government officials. 

Is this secularism ? No, not really. 

Our next stop for the day was Chora Museum (Kariye Muzesi) created in 6th century. 

This place was absolutely incredible displaying the most beautiful mosaics representing Byzantine art. 

Now it is a museum, but when it was first built, it was meant to be a christian church. When it was turned into a mosque, many of the mosaics were covered with wood. 

I went to a catholic school my entire life essentially, so what I found particularly interesting was that many of the stories displayed on the walls and ceilings were stories I had never even heard before... stories about Mary's childhood, etc.

For people who can't appreciate art very well, or people who don't quite understand it (kind of like me), just think about the expertise someone would need to create such a piece, not only the artwork itself, but with such rich meaning. 

"Just think what we could accomplish if we left out computers for a while" hahaha- fellow classmate

~ Alexa