Arabic Calligraphy at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque was surprisingly spacious inside. The entire area is covered by carpet and it is a pleasure to walk on. While this is not my first time to enter a mosque, I was still surprised to see how lax it was here with all my preconceived notions. Sure, you are required to take off your footwear when you enter. Sure, you are required to have headwear if you are female but other than that it felt relaxed as any other place. There is actually a worship area here and they are clearly marked. There is one where ladies are not allowed to enter. But while you can see people praying there, you can also see people just taking photos, like me. There are also people in the prayer area taking photos.
Exit of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul
As I was going around the mosque, I can’t help but notice that there are kids just running around. I thought that the parents should control them more since this is a place of worship. But it seems to be okay for them. In a lot of ways it isn’t that different from visiting some European cathedrals these days, where visitors outnumber the actual worshipers. Though, I still haven’t run into the issue of kids running around and trying to do somersaults inside cathedrals.
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