We arrived at the main gate of the Suleymaniye Masjid 10 minutes before the Azan (Prayer call). I asked a nice old man for the ablution area and the entrance of the Masjid. He explained to me in Turkish with sign language; he pointed me the ablution area, which was just 5 meters from where we stood and the prayer hall, was just behind it (around 10 meter from the ablution area). I asked him back in broken Arabic plus the sign language; can I go in to the Masjid?. He responded back, which I interpreted as; “No, the Masjid is still under major restoration work” unfortunately!
The Süleymaniye Masjid was built on the order of Sultan Suleiman I (Suleiman the Magnificent) and was constructed by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. The construction work began in 1550 and was completed in 1557, opening on 16th August of that year. The Masjid was ravaged by a fire in 1660 and was restored by Sultan Mehmed IV. Part of the dome collapsed again during the earthquake of 1766. During World War I the courtyard was used as a weapons depot and when some of the ammunition ignited the mosque suffered another fire. Not until 1956, it was fully restored again.At the four corners of the courtyard are the four minarets, a number only allowable to masjid endowed by a sultan (princes and princesses could construct two minarets; others only one). The minarets have 10 galleries, which by tradition indicates that Suleiman I was the 10th Ottoman sultan.
The main dome is 53 meters high and has a diameter of 26.5 meters. At the time it was built, the dome was the highest in the Ottoman Empire, when measured from sea level, but still lower from its base and smaller in diameter than that of Hagia Sophia.
While Afi, M Afiq, M Asri and I performed our Friday prayer, Nana, M Aiman and Afiqah waited around the complex playing with cute fat Turkish stray cat and meeting people of other nationalities.The Friday prayer was brief, but we could hardly understand a word except for few Arabic words when the Khatib recited few verses from the Holy Qur’an el Kareem and el Hadiths. What good thing that I observed was, the Masjid provided plastic bag for people to keep the shoes or slippers before their enter the prayer hall.
The time was almost 1:00 pm, our biological engines grumbled again due to insufficient combustion. To avoid further discomfort amid the chilly weather and to boost up our energy, we decided to take our lunch around the Suleymaniye Masjid’s complex. Outside the western side of the Masjid, there were rows of shops selling the typical Turkishs’ souvenirs and Muslims’ clothing and few restaurants serving Turkish’s cuisine. As I walked, a guy at late 40’s invited me to his restaurants. He pointed at his promotion banner stated that, a set of rice, salad and another dish cost 5 Turkish Lira (TL). Its cheap! Without waiting much time, I called Nana and the kids who were enjoying the pleasant atmosphere of the Masjid. Prior to that, I’ve asked the guy,”do you have chicken?” He answered excitingly, ”Yes..yes, we have chicken, beef, everything…you see ..(he pointed at the banner)”. He asked me,”How many your family?” I replied him straight,”Seven (7)”. He ushered us to the restaurant and asked us whether we want to eat inside or outside along the walkway. We preferred eating our lunch under the open clear sky naturally conditioned by the Marmara breeze. After he has prepared the table and asked his father to serve us the Turkish bread and salad, he stood near our table and asked for our order. “We would like to have the set with 5 chickens and 2 lambs”, I politely informed him. He looked confused and repeated back, “4 chickens and 3 beefs?” I asked back, “Do you have beef or lamb?” He asked, “do you want lamb?. Puzzled and a little bit annoyed, I informed him again, “I need 5 chickens and 2 lambs”. Finally, he said “ok”.
The cleanliness of the restaurant was excellent. Once a while, his father came to us with his past stories. Three (3) young men came and sat next to our table. Around 10 minutes later, our order, 3 plates of rice with chicken arrived; in one small plate, there were only three (3) slices or pieces of grilled chicken and a small bowl or handful of rice! Minutes after that, 2 more order arrived – two (2) plates of rice with 2 pieces of lamb meat!! I have completed mine and while waiting for the remaining food, I saw the man brought two (2) plates of rice with chicken and served the three young men next to us. I was a little bit agitated with that scene, but not to spoil my mood and our holiday, I suppressed my anger and kept my temperature low. I called him and said, “Where is the food that we ordered?” Without feeling guilty, he replied, “ What did you ordered?” I answered him directly, “Chicken…” pergh..gh….h. Minutes later, he brought us the same plate of rice with few pieces of lamb! I raised my voice and told him, “We ordered for chicken not lamb!?” He smiled at me and when he was just about to bring back the food, M Asri said, “Its ok… I take the lamb”. One more order to go. Few minutes later, I asked again the man, where is the remaining order – the chicken? He went in, came back to us, and said, “There is no more chicken and I only have lamb”. At this juncture, I still managed controlling my temperament. Upon Nana’s call, we finally cancelled the order.
To cut the long boring story short, the whole meal cost us 75 TL. Feeling cheated, I confronted him for other people sake and pointed at him that this was not good. While defending himself that he was right, he took my 100 TL and went to another shop for the 25 TL change. To avoid further commotion, we immediately left restaurant for our next item in the queue – the Al Ayub Al Ansary mausoleum or famously known among tourists, the Eyub Sultan complex.
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