Okay - I'm a cultural person, I can't spare you allll of the details. There's actually an urban phenomenon happening in many cities throughout the world, where the younger (my) generation is re-aligning themselves and beginning to identify themselves primarily with their religion. For them, it's becoming their main identity. Although this is happening in Judaism too, this is mostly a Muslim - and urban - phenomenon. In Germany (or more specifically, Berlin), people with migratory backgrounds are poorly integrated into the society (that should ring a bell - America) because of a long series of policy and infrastructural flaws that France has perfected but Germany lacks - despite the fact that these people were probably born here and so were their parents and grandparents. So, already a bit - not excluded, but not exactly included - from society, they often take one piece of their identity - in this instance - their religion, and then put it at the forefront of their lives, to have something to define themselves with.
If this is hard to imagine, think of yourself. For instance, I am an American, a student, a Christian, a sister, a daughter, an athlete, a photography enthusiast. The only things that society really pays attention to are the first three. So if they exclude me for the first one, clearly I'd have to chose one of the other two to hold tight to, to affirm my identity, place of belonging, and place in society.
Moving on to the mosque. This was a recently built mosque, so it's very modern. Prior to this, from the time the largest influx of Turkish people came to Germany (1960s), mosques were generally one room and a garden in the back of an apartment building. Now, with financial help from private investors, the denomination back in Turkey (or other places), and others, they can build these awesome ones.
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| You can see more photos of the intricacies of the mosque in my Flickr album. |
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| In the main room of the mosque, where prayer and talks (like sermons take place), instead of an alter there is a Mihrab. This is a small recession in the wall, pointing in the direction to pray to. It is from this same area where the imam (like a priest or pastor) sits on during one of his talks. |
Our guide was so wonderful and taught us SO much about his religion. It was fascinating. One thing I really really admire about Muslims is their dedication to their religion. They literally drop everything and pray five times a day. They stop serving you food, stop doing their work, and just pray. It's beautiful. Additionally, they carefully wash themselves to purify themselves before approaching God. It's such a humbling act!
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| The room where the men wash themselves. The women have a similar room upstairs, since they have to remove their hijab. |
By the end the session I felt bad about the persecution that everyone, without giving it thought, treats Muslims with. Not necessarily forthrightly, but subconsciously. They emphasize the message of peace in their religion, and it's something that should not be overlooked by us.
After the trip we went out to an excellent Turkish restaurant nearby, and had a delicious meal of bulgar and this stew-like meal (I had an eggplant stuffed with other veggies), and it was SO delicious that I brought Mom and Artie back the next week!
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| Note: the green thing on the right is NOT an asparagus, but a jalepeño, so DON'T eat half of it in one bite as I did! |
