THE MOSQUE OF SULTAN AHMET (THE BLUE MOSQUE)
The rules of Islam dictate that every good Moslem practice namaz (Moslem prayer) five times a day. When they hear the call to prayer, chanted at minarets by the muezzins, believers perform ablution and rush to the mosques. The noon prayer of Fridays and two times in a year morning prayers on religious holidays, the last prayer of the month of Ramadan as well as funeral prayers, are necessarily practiced in the mosques as a congregation, whereas all other prayers may be practiced at the designated time at any suitable place. The mass prayers in the mosques are led by imams who recite verses from the Koran.
During prayerin the mosque, women and men occupy separate quarters; while men have their prayers at the front and center, women sit at the back and the sides. The classical Turkish mosques are structured to permit most believers in the congregation to see the mihrab even on the most crowded days. While the higher parts of the walls of the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet are decorated with paint, the walls of those galleries allocated for women are covered by beautiful ceramic tiles, made specially for the mosque upon orders of the Sultan.
Women part of the Mosque
Blue Mosque at the sunset |
