Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Social life and customs
Our quiet room vibrates with his subdued voice--the voice of those
who have heard and understood the wails of agony. Gradually and with
the conviction acquired by generations of philosophers before him,
the thinker is rebuilding our faith. The faith that no true Muslim
must ever lose. The shadows surrounding us are becoming translucid. We
come to share his vision of a better world: a world based not on the
equality but on the unity of all. We come to share his conviction that
this is the unavoidable period of travail with its unavoidable pains
and sorrows. We must go through it without complaint, without despair,
fully realizing that we must use all obstacles in the path of humanity
as stepping-stones and not as stumbling-blocks and God will keep His
covenant to humanity. We are not fatalists, but we have faith.
Our talk continues, inspiring and elevating. How far we are, here in
Stamboul, from the mundane life of Pera. Yet it is only a narrow strip
of water which divide us: a strip of water called by the ancients
“Golden Horn,” possibly because of their foreknowledge that it would
bring to Stamboul the soothing treasures of faith and belief.
But all things have an end, and it is getting late. We drink another
cup of coffee, we smoke a last cigarette, and true to the Turkish
custom we accompany our departing guests to our front door.
Upstairs in our room we are getting ready for the night. Full of the
elevating talk of the evening, we silently prepare for sleep, the
sleep which will lead our souls to the giddy heights of unconscious
knowledge. Through our window we see the darkness outside. It is night.
Silence reigns over Stamboul. Calm and composed, the eternal Turkish
City slumbers under its dark sky where glow large Eastern stars, while
Levantines and foreigners feverishly revel in unhealthy amusements on
the hills of Pera. Let them do what they want as long as they leave
us free to use the night for its real purpose: meditation, rest and
relaxation!
It is dark outside. There is only one light in the small mosque of the
Sublime Porte: its tapered minaret points to the oriental stars above
which silently sparkle away centuries into eternity. Then the little
door on top of the minaret is pushed open and the muezzin steps out on
the ring-like gallery. It is prayer time. The cloudless sky echoes the
melodious voice of the muezzin. High above the roofs of the slumbering
city he calls the faithful to prayer:
“Allahi Ekber--Allahi Ekber! God is Great--
“There is no God but God ...”
His voice is pure as the purest crystal. He chants the greatness of God
and His Unity. He proclaims in the middle of the night that prayer is
better than sleep and calls the faithful to salvation through prayer.
He gives his message to the four winds, and retires after having again
proclaimed the greatness of God and having claimed for Mahomed only the
station of Prophethood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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