Building Respect

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Today we visited two of the most predominant mosques in the world: Hagia Sofia and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, or Blue Mosque in Istanbul. They each have significance in their own right. Hagia Sofia is the largest mosque in the world and was built ın 532 AD. The Blue Mosque is an architectural dream: a stained-glass shrouded elephant. I was very excited to visit these special places of worship and history.

To prepare, I did a little research on Islam and borrowed a head scarf (after my incident yesterday I was hypersensitive to cultural protocol). Diving into a sea of diversity calls for respect, attempted understanding and an open mind. I went into the mosques today with these three things in mind and readied myself to have a unique cultural and religious experience.

Visitors entered the mosque from a seperate back entrance. Everyone was instructed to take off their shoes at the door but no other guidelines were issued. We walked onto the massive carpet wearing socks and clutching our shoes in protective plastic bags. There was a retaining wooden gate to seperate visitors and worshippers. Standing on the visitors side of the gate, I looked around at tourists taking pictures, answering cell phones and ignoring their rambunctous children with scorn. Didnt they know this was a holy place of worship? They were zooming their digital cameras in at lines of men performing the Salah. A tripod was set up in the corner. I watched the flash reflect off of gold plates on the wall into the worshippers eyes. Everyone seemed to have a camera, bags, and mill around in a group.

I walked out of the Blue Mosque disappointed in the tourists that saw it as a photo opportunity. My silence prompted Adam to ask what I was pondering. This provoked a rant toward the digitally armed tourists from the mosque. At lunch the boys tried to convince me that other people just had a different view of the building than I did. I argued that everyone should come into a place of worship with respect for the people inside. It was at that moment that I realized there were two categories of people that came to the Blue Mosque: those that attended for its historical and architectural acclaim, and those who came to appreciate the spiritual reverance of the place. I was viewing the building from only a religious point of view and criticizing everyone who had come for other reasons. The lesson I learned today was that of true acceptance: tolerance for those of other viewpoints.

I came to the mosque seeking to appreciate another cultures religious traditions, but had missed the point completely. I walked out with a strong distaste for people in my own demographic: the traveler. The realization that must be made is one of universal acceptance: to try to see the perspective of even those you oppose. We must look deeply into ourselves and find some internal commonality: that we are all human. Whether we practice Christianity or Islam, whether we eat beef daily or feast on eggplant, whether we vote or abstain, it pays to make the effort to try to see the world from another point of view.

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Comments

[Bork]

Hagia, Hagia!
Wow, I've always wanted to see the Hagia Sofia, I've always had some weird fascination with it, it just calls to me. I'm glad you got to see it!