Istanbul part 2

Our last day of AFP was decent. We went to the Topkapi Palace in the morning. Topkapi was built by Mehmet the Conqueror as a Sultan’s Palace. It was set up like a museum with relics of the past and a harem which was once the living quarters of about 300 women who were sultans’ wives and concubines, and their children. Lunch was served at a traditional Turkish restaurant that only served salads and meatballs. We ate what was given to us, although it wasn’t very flavorful, and washed it down with a yogurt/milk/water drink that is typically eaten with the meatballs. It tasted like a bitter buttermilk, and it wasn’t that bad, but I still opted to have a glass of water as well. In the afternoon we took a cruise down the Bosphorous, which separates Europe Turkey from Asia Turkey. Honestly, I slept for most of it…I was absolutely exhausted and they provided us with the most comfortable pillow chairs I’ve ever sat in. On the way back into dock, we saw a man getting ready to jump off a bridge to kill himself…we could see the police on the other side trying to talk him out of it & traffic was beginning to slow down on the bridge. All I remember thinking is please don’t jump, I don’t want to see someone die today. Luckily, he didn’t jump…at least not while we could see him. Afterwards, someone told us that the city had to cut off pedestrian crossing on that particular bridge a few years ago because of the large number of people that would jump to their death from it. I’ve never before actually seen someone ready to kill themselves…it was a strange experience, and definitely put a damper on the afternoon. In the evening, a group of us just stayed in and played poker…unfortunately I did not win, but I still had fun laughing and carrying on until the wee hours of the morning.

Yesterday was an interesting day. We started off our day at the Grand Bazaar to do a little shopping. I got an amazing gift for my brother (sorry Donny, can’t tell you what it is until I’m home!) and even managed to bargain for a decently priced lantern for myself. We sipped some amazing apple tea, ate Turkish delight, and learned a lot about what makes a good carpet. We walked through the Spice Market and the streets of Istanbul, which are transformed to markets themselves on the weekends. We headed back to the boat for a nap and some dinner, and then it was off to one of the most interesting things I’ve ever experienced…

There is a man named Alfred that works for TSS and is a Turkish Sufi. According to Wikipedia (yes, I know it’s a crap resource, but it’s the only thing I have access to one the boat…), Sufism is a mystic tradition developed by Muslims that encompasses a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to Allah. Sufism comes from the Middle East sometime in the 8th century, it is believed to originate from Sunni Muslims, and there are now many tariqas (sufi orders) throughout the world. The main aim of Sufis is to let go of all notions of duality, therefore also the individual self, and to realize the divine unity. There is a master of spiritual direction known as the shaykh (pronounced ‘shake’), who leads the ceremonies (I’ll call them ceremonies for the lack of a better word).

And here is my take on what happened last night…we met Alfred at 7:00 because he had offered to take a small group of us to this Sufi group to experience their weekly ritual/ceremony/gathering. We took a ferry over to the Asia side of Turkey, where this group meets. We stopped in a market to pick up some food to take with us, which I guess is some kind of tradition within this particular sect. After stocking up on loads of fish, chips and bread, we took taxis to an old house in the middle of a Turkish neighborhood. This was my first surprise…I guess I expected this ceremony to take place within a place of worship, or some other official building, not a house. I wrapped my head with a scarf, as instructed, and entered the house. We took off our shoes and coats and were directed upstairs. Males were put into one room, females into another…there was no wall between the rooms, so we could all see each other. There was a 12 year old boy that was a friend of Alfred’s and he translated for us because he was born in the US and speaks English, but now lives in Turkey so he also speaks Turkish. We started by standing and chanting some prayer or saying and then we were told we could either stay for prayer or go downstairs if we didn’t want to pray…either was fine. I stayed because I was not going to miss any of this…we must have then prayed for an hour. Stand up, bend over, stand up, kneel to the ground, sit up, kneel to the ground, sit up, stand up and repeat many many times. I was disappointed that I didn’t have any clue what they were praying for…nobody explained to me the importance of praying, the importance of the ritual behind it, what exactly they were praying for…so basically I just people watched and played along with all of the sitting and standing. We came back together as a group and we were offered the food which we had brought. After everyone ate, we gathered back as a group and started singing and chanting. It started off pretty normal by my standards…people singing or humming, and it eventually turned into muraqabah, which is the sufi meditation. The best way for me to explain it is that they hyperventilate themselves. After a good workout or run, you know how you breath heavily with the “huhh, huhh, huhh” sound of catching your breath? They were doing this…huhh huhh huhh…the women were rocking back and forth or shaking their heads. Then men were going a bit further…they were almost violently rocking back and forth, and their heads shook so hard and fast I thought they would give themselves whiplash. The hyperventilating is supposed to bring you to another state which is closer to Allah. I’m not sure how long this went on…I’d say the better part of 2 hours…but it seemed to go a lot more quickly because there was just so much to see. I was really fascinated, but I couldn’t convince myself to participate…I guess because it seemed so strange and I really had no idea what the purpose was until it was explained to me afterwards. We then all drank tea, had some fruit and prayed more, sang more, chanted more, prayed more…and then the leader explained beliefs of Sufi Muslims. Unfortunately, the women were in a back room and we weren’t able to participate. The men played instruments, sat next to the leader and could actually hear what was going on. We were basically just observers…never were the women recognized, encouraged to participate, nor was anything ever explained to us. I knew full well going into this that I would be treated as a woman, but it was very frustrated to just sit back and watch and not really feel like I was fully participating. I was jealous of the men we went with because I felt as though they really got the full experience and I had somehow missed out.

The whole thing was pretty crazy. It lasted nearly 7 hours and I had a lot of time to think during that time. These people are obviously very strong in their beliefs. There was one girl in her last year of University and she spoke some English. She was able to help us somewhat and she told us she wears a hijab because her God has called her to do so. She said the women that don’t cover their heads aren’t any less Muslim, they just haven’t heard the calling from their God to do so. An interesting explanation, I thought. I wish I could have video taped this experience…there aren’t really accurate words to describe what I saw and experienced and felt. Surprisingly I was pretty comfortable with the whole thing, although I do have to admit that the word ‘cult’ came to mind a few times. Obviously I know this is nothing like a cult, but the rituals and strictness are so foreign to me, that’s the only word association that came to my mind. Toward the end I was able to get my camera and sneak in a few pictures, which I’ve posted.

Tonight I’m going out for a hookah with a few of the guys that were at the ceremony to get their take on things. I’m interested to hear what was said that I missed and how they perceived the whole night to go. I’m sure this isn’t my last time writing about this experience, since I haven’t even really begun to process it yet…

Hope everyone at home is well. xo

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