The Great Mosque of Istanbul Essay

“O Messenger, announce that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people. Indeed, Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.” (Quran 5:67) Prophet Muhammad PBUH, was born to a branch of Quraish family. He was born to Abdullah Ibn Abd Al-Muttalib and Amna Bint Wahab in the year 570 C. He received his “call” which is the message from God carried by the angel Gabriel to deliver the truth about God to his people. Prophet Muhammad PBUH, died in the year 632 C due to fever after that the Umma was in the hands of the Caliphate, which was then passed

Islamic architecture featured domes, mosques, shrines, minarets and columns. The furnishings of Islamic mosques and palaces reflect a love of materials and rich decorative pattern. Islamic artists were very meticulous when it came to the patterns and placement of their work. Muslim artisans used materials

Two buildings, the Hagia Sophia and the Great Mosque of Cordoba, can show us two separate peoples and their approach to constructing architecture that was devoted to their religions. However, while religion played a huge role, there are similarities as well between the two that show that the rulers who commissioned these buildings were interested in mimicking beauty and showing the world that their building was the most beautiful and perhaps the most elite of its time as well as proving their divinity as a ruler of a great nation.

The most beautiful building among these is the Mosque. The Mosque was built in early 1990's and is American built, almost entirely by local architects and local artists. There is a fountain in front of the Mosque and a second fountain inside the vestibule. These fountains have come from as far away as Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia and are merely for decoration though in older times fountains were used for washing before prayer.

In addition to the structure's architectural composition, elaborate Quranic inscriptions further elaborate this message of religious superiority. Carole Hillenbrand alludes to such:

The Ottoman Turks emerged on the periphery of the Byzantine Empire and the Saljuk Turks. Under a Turkish Muslim warrior named Osman, raids were conducted in western Anatolia on Byzantine settlements and a vast number of Turks were united under his banner. Those Turks who flocked to Osman's banner and followed him into the history books came to be called the Ottomans. The word Ottoman, fits these Turks well as it roughly translates from Turkish as "those associated with Oman."

The Ottoman had several scenes of decline and each one had marked their history and are linked with it so I will explain each one. The armistice of 1918 ended the fighting between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies but didn´t bring stability or peace to the region. The British controlled Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia.

The idea of a clash of civilizations can be originated largely to Samuel Huntington. He describes a future where the majority of human conflicts will be due to “cultural differences”. (Huntington). In The Butterfly Mosque, Willow Wilson, an American, travels to Egypt, converts to Islam, and marries an Egyptian man. This places her at the fault lines of two cultures. Through her experiences, she sees the frontlines of this clash of civilizations that Huntington predicted, and tries to uncover if she can thread the needle between her two cultures. In this paper, I will argue that through her experiences with Muslims in Tura, other Westerners in Egypt, and in reactions to her writings, she discovers that the clash of civilizations is real. This clash results in cruelty, fear, self-hatred, and an internal existential crisis in Willow that leaves her uncertain about whether or not she can navigate her internal clash of cultures.

Ever since man began building structures and settling land, art has manifested itself in our architectural creations. Whether it be to celebrate or worship a God or Gods, a grand sculpture to bury a powerful leader or remember them by, or to show a culture’s dedication to specific values, our architectural constructions have led to some of the finest art this Earth has ever seen. The Taj Mahal and Palace of Versailles are two great examples of such art. By examining each of these individually, and then comparing and contrasting them, it will become clear that no matter how different looking these buildings may be, they still serve the same purpose to the civilizations that erected them.

Literature helps us remember the past and honor the victims of the Holocaust in many contrasting ways. “The Grand Mosque of Paris”, an explanatory text by Karen Ruelle, “A Great Adventure in the Shadow of a War” , a reflective essay by Mary Helen Dirkx, “ The Diary of a Young Girl”, a diary excerpt by Anne Frank, “The Diary of Anne Frank”, an autobiography by Anne Frank, the “Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize”, a speech by Elie Wiesel, and “Maus”, a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman all present the past in different ways to help us honor the victims of the Holocaust.

The Ottoman Empire was a state founded by Turkish tribes under Osman Bey in 1299. Under the leadership of Mehmed II, this fledgling nation became an empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1452 by Mehmed II. The Ottoman Empire continued in its imperial form until it became the Republic of Turkey in 1923. As an empire, it was the most powerful state in the world with 32 provinces during the seventeenth century. In the last half of the seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire functioned under the rule of the Koprulu family, a notable family of imperial bureaucrats from Albania who overhauled the bureaucracy and instituted military reforms. After the fall of

Brick Lane Mosque, similarly to other mosques across the globe, displays non-existent segregationist attitudes and is open to the public regardless of taste and social class. This is further emphasised through the cultural and religious practices of the Muslims in the mosque, referring to each other as 'brothers and sisters', indicating zero arrogance or ignorance though social status. This is due to the primary belief which binds each agent, which is, in this case, the followers of Islam, who despite taste and social class, share one invaluable thing in common... religion.

The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and strongest Turkish Muslim empires in the world, with its capitol Constantinople it led the trade in the eastern and western world. Constantinople had total control of the Silk Road due to location, being in the middle of the black and Mediterranean Sea gave Constantinople total control of the trade market. Leading for more than 600 years (Modern World History, chap. 5, sect. 2) the Ottoman Empire served as a unification between different and separated parts of the Islamic world. The Ottoman Empire rose to power mainly due to Mongols destroying their Islamic dynasty known as the Seljuk Turks, this in turn caused the Ottoman Turks to regain their strength and regroup. Military leaders also played an important role in the development of the empire.

When you think of the military, the thought of children does not usually come to mind. But the Ottoman Empire had a military unit made entirely of young Christian boys. There are two types of elite forces that serve the Sultan: cavalry (The Cavalry of the servants of the Porete) and infantry (Janissary corps). The Janissary corps is also known as the yeniceri ocak, or “new soldiers corps.” and were the slaves of the sultan. They were trained and educated to be the most formidable force in Europe and had tremendous political power. The Janissary corps is organized into ortas (units) with four sub-groups: the camaat (the frontier troops with 101 ortas), beuluks (the bodyguards of the sultan with 61 ortas), sekban (mercenary peasants

Throughout history, the middle east has often been the focus of news reporters. A middle eastern country that has not been exempt from this, is Turkey. Turkey has not only been a focus, but it also has had a very long, complicated history.