I have visited Turkey recently to experience Ramadan among Turks, and I chose to spend a day in the city of Edirne which is located in the north next Bulgaristan (Bulgaria) & Yunanistan (Greece). The city was the 2nd capital of the Ottomans, and is famous for its grand masjed, Selimiye, named after Sultan Selim II.
In Turkish they write it as "Cami Selimiye", the letter "C" here is pronounced as "J". And the word Cami/Jami means the grand masjed.
In Ramadan, we have a special prayer at night (after the Isha prayers) called Tarawih. People gather to pray and praise God and his prophets, and the prayer's duration ranges between 20 min up to 90 min, depending on one's preference.
Sunni Islam, is the Orthodox version of Islam. It has 4 schools (Hanafi, Shafei, Maleki, and Hanbali). They're almost identical and no differeces between them, except for few minor parts (such as when the way of conducting the prayers) which are still in agreement by all of them. Basicaly, its just a matter of preference.
The people of Turkey mainly follows the Hanafi school, except for those from Iranian origins, such as the Kurds, they follow the Shefei school. Myself, as an Iranian/Persian, I'm Shafei, and it brings me interest to experience how the Hanafis conduct the Tarawih prayers in Ramadan, thus my visit to this grand masjed of Selimiye which was constructed by the famous Ottoman archetict, Mimar Sinan in the 14th century.
I thought of sharing my experience with you all by posting this video.
In this video, you'll see the last part of prayers where the Imam says ..
- I seek protection from Allah against the accursed Satan.
- In the name of Allah the most Merciful.
- Our Lord! We believe in what You have sent down, and we follow the Messenger.
- So write us down among those who bear witness.
- Allahuma, Amen, Amen, Amen.
- Praise be to Allah, lord of the worlds.