Finding Our Way to the Light.....

For those of you who are planning a trip to Istanbul, I would definitely put the newly constructed Sakirin mosque on your “must see” list. We did have a difficult time finding it since it was recently opened this year and no one seemed to be familiar with it. We had to take a ferry from Eminonu port in the European side of Istanbul to Uskudar on the Asian side.

As soon as we arrived at this Asian port of Istanbul, everything seemed different from the sights and smells to even the people who were walking around the neighborhoods. We were in Asia! Somehow, what seemed to me as “real Turkey” came to life. We saw the typical flowery scarves worn by older ladies as they sat on the stairways on the sides of the roads… we saw sweaty young boys playing football in the middle of the alleyways… we saw giggling little girls skipping rope on small patches of green… we saw older men walking down sidewalks puffing cigarette smoke through their aging nostrils…Strangely enough, I felt very much at home.

I was relieved at the sight of a couple that looked like tourists hoping that they too were in Uskudar to find the mosque. When I asked about its location, they simply ignored me and walked on. Only a few moments later did I realize that they must have thought that I was a beggar or a street seller. For those few moments, I had felt what it was like to be on the other side, where the grass is not that green… All of a sudden, the world didn’t seem that friendly. I guess my half-blown hijab and the ice cream stains on my wrinkled gypsy shirt from a whole day of sight seeing didn’t help… Nor did the sight of my two younger children tugging at my shirt all day long... Looking back, I think I would have mistaken myself for a beggar had I looked in the mirror…

Anyway, cutting a long story short… We were only able to find the mosque after I remembered that I had the location saved on my nokia and that it was adjacent to Karaca Ahmet Cemetery. It was ironic how the Turks in the area knew the cemetery quite well but didn’t have a clue about the mosque.

Allow me to apologize for here I am digressing again… We had finally arrived at the mosque known as “Sakirin Camii”. I couldn’t believe we had found it. The masjid had retained an Ottoman façade yet its simplified form and somewhat angular surfaces gave it a distinct contemporary character. It was absolutely beautiful yet in a very simple, unadorned way… Mixing old with new never seemed as natural as in the case of this first modern mosque of Turkey…. I kept touching its grey stone walls. It felt pleasantly cold against the palm of my hand. I think I was hoping to make the whole experience real but was struggling.

Entering the mosque is yet another story but please forgive me, I don’t think I can recreate my feelings or justly capture its beauty in words. Try to imagine this…I was surrounded by glass decorated with gold paint inscription. Light penetrated from everywhere… Then, my eyes caught sight of a curved “mihrab” that was of a striking deep turquoise color… The most spectacular moment, however, was when I glanced above me and there it was… a glass blown, dripping, spiral chandelier generously spreading a natural beam even in broad daylight… I felt like it was going to magically turn into water and send droplets of sparkling rain from above… Subhan Allah…everything seemed transparent… there was “nur” everywhere... I could have never fathomed how one could be surrounded by this much light indoors…

Then I realized how quickly I had dismissed the ayah that was inscribed at the entrance of the mosque… So I went back and read it again slowly… If I had been this overwhelmed by the earthly light found inside of this mosque… then why is it that I have often forgotten to ask from Allah that I be guided to His Divine Light…. Subhan Allah… I pray that Allah guides us all to His Light insha-Allah and I pray that He continues to remind us that it is His Guidance alone that we should all be seeking…

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ الْمِصْبَاحُ فِي زُجَاجَةٍ الزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُّبَارَكَةٍ زَيْتُونَةٍ لّا شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلا غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ نُّورٌ عَلَى نُورٍ يَهْدِي اللَّهُ لِنُورِهِ مَن يَشَاء وَيَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ الأَمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ

شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ (آية 35 سورة النور)

"Allâh is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as (if there were) a niche and within it a lamp, the lamp is in glass, the glass as it were a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east (i.e. neither it gets sun-rays only in the morning) nor of the west (i.e. nor it gets sun-rays only in the afternoon, but it is exposed to the sun all day long), whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself), though no fire touched it. Light upon Light! Allâh guides to His Light whom He wills. And Allâh sets forth parables for mankind, and Allâh is All-Knower of everything" (Verse 35, Surah An-Nûr)