Cassidy Goes to Mosque

Adnan: If you want to go up to the women’s section, now--

Me: Oh, COOL! Is that what’s up there? I definitely want to go see!

A: Yes. Prayer’s going to start in about five minutes.

C: Okay! (said with classic Bubbles excitement for culture ‘n things)

Internal realization while walking to the mosque stairs: Hmmm...I’m the only chick down her--ohhhh...! I have to go upstairs now. Adnan mentioned it in such a sweet tour guide-esqe way that I hadn’t realized that my gender obliged me to head upstairs (and away from the dudes) for prayer. So maybe my touristy enthusiasm was a tiny bit inappropriate and silly, but up I went and staked out a fantastic spot.

The inside of Kocatepe Cami is an immense circular space bordered by a balcony--this is the women’s section. From my padded perch high up in the women’s section, I took in the impressive expanse of the mosque. (Kocatepe is the largest mosque in Turkey’s captial, Ankara.) Though it was only completed in the 1980s, it was designed in the Ottoman style and basically consists of one huge carpeted room below billows of mosaic-ed domes and spherical chandeliers. With my birdseye view of the place, I watched men trickle in and gravitate toward the front center. As the call continued, more and more men hustled across the floor. Barefoot men in business suits and tardy twenty-somethings sprinted in last of all and joined a solid mass of praying--bending, raising, and folding as if they were choreographed. I looked for my Fulbright friend Adnan in the mix and found myself entranced by the rhythmic syncretism of so many Muslim men magnetized together in prayer. Beautiful.

On the twilight walk back to orientation headquarters (/ fancy futuristic hotel), I learned (at least a little bit) about the immense amount of historical, doctrinal, and regional complexities and variety within Islam. I prodded (an extremely patient) Adnan with endless menial questions because I. know. NOTHING. Seriously, not a freaking thing. I began our conversation with, “Okay, tell me about what I just saw,” and my brand new buddy walked me through so much fascinating stuff about the evening prayer (the fourth of five daily prayers). Between frequent pauses for near-death negotiations with traffic, he laid out thousands of years of history and colloquially characterized some key players. We laughed about some funny distinctions he’s noticed about Turkish, Arab, and Pakistani prayer styles. I learned that Muslims basically believe in all the same peeps as Christians and Jews, (about which I’m also not exactly an expert) but they hold to a different historical order. This chill debriefing was probably the first casual conversation I’ve had about Muslims and Islam.

In the most intense way since my arrival, evening prayer at Kocetepe and a chat with a new pal made me so stoked to be living in Türkiye. These are the times I came here for.