During my stay in Turkey, I have visited several mosques. Last week Friday and today I did not just visit mosques: I went there with a Muslim and joined the men in prayer. Some of my Christian brethren might be shocked by this, but I did not have a big problem with praying with Muslims and praying like they do. In fact, I found the praying to be… comforting. I obviously prayed to God as in the Christian God, and I did not silently pray the same prayer the Muslims prayed: I prayed to the Christian concept of God and chose my own words / thoughts…
But it was comforting nonetheless. When praying, I was – today and last week Friday as well – overwhelmed by a very positive, peaceful feeling. Or perhaps peaceful or positive energy is the best word to describe this feeling. I realized that, in the end, we all pray – more or less – to the same God. I am not a Muslim because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and because I differ with Muslims on the significance of Mohammed, but I can pray with them and pray to our God with them: the God of love and peace. To me, they may be misguided about Jesus and about certain other things, but – as I said – in the end, they pray to and believe in the same God we Christians pray to and believe in.
In other words: their perception of God might be a bit faulty, from my Christian perspective, but that does not mean that they do not worship the same God and that one cannot find peace when surrounded by Muslims and (while) praying with them.
Those of you who choose to criticize me are most likely individuals who have never visited mosques and who have never joined Muslims in their Friday prayer. Those who have, I am sure, will second my feelings: a mosque truly feels like a Church to me. I have no problem with praying to my God in a mosque. In fact, I found it refreshing.
One of the main things I like about praying in the mosque is that one has to ritually clean oneself before entering the mosque. First one cleans one’s hands. Then one cleans one’s mouth (three times). Same goes for the nose. Then the face. After the face one cleans one’s arms: starting with the right arm, then, after three times, one cleans the left arm. After the arms comes the forehead / head, followed by the ears and neck. Lastly, one cleans one’s feet: again right foot first.
The result: one feels refreshed and re-energized.
A Muslim friend told me that the ritual releases positive energy in one’s body. Whether that is true or not I do not know, but I do know that I certainly feel good whenever I do this.
The prayer itself is a ritual as well, and just as refreshing. One literally throws oneself before God. The repetition of the movements creates an almost hypnotic feeling. One falls on one’s knees and presses one’s head to the floor in worship.
I do not believe it to be necessary to pray like that, but doing it feels quite good.
When the Imam was singing the Quran, I was contemplating how I felt. I realized that I felt good, and that I had overcome the feelings of… well I am not sure how to call those feelings. The first time I prayed in a mosque I was wondering about whether or not I did the right thing: the second time I did not have those strong doubts anymore. I realized that it was good. It felt good.
I also thought about how peaceful one feels in a mosque and how awkward and infuriating it must be for Muslims that – at the same time – other Muslims are killing Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and atheists alike, all in the name of Islam. To think about it made even my blood boil, and I am not a Muslim but a Christian. Imagine what it must feel like for Muslims.
Besides praying in mosques I also visited mosques as a tourist. The most beautiful mosque I visited is the so-called Blue Mosque. It is incredibly beautiful. Those of you who never visited Istanbul / Turkey should really come here once and visit this grand mosque. It is only a hundred meters or something away from… the Hagia Sofia: the ancient Church, built by Emperor Justinian.
The photo above is of the Blue Mosque (found online – I took pictures myself but not on a digital camera).
OK – that is it for now: I have to do other stuff. More about Turkey later today or tomorrow.
This post has been cross posted at my own blog.
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