Lauren Booth – Islamic Heritage #7 Secrets of the Blue Mosque

			We are going to be going inside the newly renovated salts and ashmit. Six years we've been waiting
to see what this great palace of Ibadah looks like after significant renovations who was assaulted
Akhmed from the Islamic context? Who was he inside himself? And why did he commission this epic
piece of Ottoman architecture? On my tour, I was joined by Muslim guides and historians who revealed
secrets of the Salton as a believer and some secrets inside the building itself is now stored on
Akhmad. He has a bad reputation. And one has to remember that he comes into power he comes at the
throne at a very young age. And he comes into power when the when the Ottomans are facing numerous
		

			rebellions, wars on two fronts, one against the Austrians in the West, and one against the SOFIA
Safavids, or the SOFIA in the east, the Persians in the East. And when Sultan Ahmed comes on to the
throne, he's following in the footsteps of great rulers of his forefathers, people of the likes of
Osman Zazie, the son of Ertugrul many of you will know about Ertugrul, this his the son of
osmangazi, or Jaime Ghazi, and here comes sold on admin, the 14th in line to the Ottoman throne, and
he is very young at the time. He is inexperienced as a provincial government, Governor, but he comes
into power and he wants to leave his mark. And what does he do? One of the things he does that he
		

			does, despite the fact that the Ottomans in the field of battle are now suffering from defeats. What
does he do? He commissions this incredible Grand Mosque, something that previous rulers had only
done following victories. And when they achieved these victories, they would build these mosques,
they would commission them through the minima or the spoils of war, the spoils that were won through
these great victories, and sold them, Ahmed does not have these great victories, but he digs into
the treasury of the Ottomans. And with that, he starts to lay down the foundations of this
incredible piece, something that he wants to do not for his own ego, but rather to boost the morale
		

			and the ego of the Muslims. What's the purpose of this building, or ancestors put the purpose of
this building, you know, it says, protect your middle prayer. So it says we'll have a salad it was
solid to the stub a woman elect it. So if you pray five times, and he's at the museum, this is a
place of worship, we should enter with respect. So we don't pay money, it's not a museum, and you
will Shala See, now, when we entered the spirituality, the atmosphere in a very peaceful
		

			he had a very good spiritual training, he has a Sufi master, as Mambo to die, so he was trained by
him, it was a very spiritual person, actually, he was carrying earth with his own gown. Can you
measure put the earth
		

			you have the king, you know, but you know, I kind of rivaling beauty against the, you know,
Christian art because as Sophia, it was turned into a mosque, but it was a church, isn't it? So kind
of people say that Ottomans are trying to, you know, surpass higher Sophia, which actually might be
true.
		

			It's not easy to keep a sense of peace and respect when you're amongst 1000s of tourists, most of
whom are not aware of Islamic etiquette for going inside the mosque. But I tried to focus on
entering a space of worship, and on the sand and intentions of the great architect who had worked on
the project and brought it to the world in just seven years. The tiles all around are indeed a
really deep blue. They depict
		

			The gardens of Paradise and the flowers, the water, the sky and the trees that inshallah we'll all
see there
		

			disperse officer here really, you know, charm you isn't it? Look at this piece, of course I'm not
around but normativity child as well because automobile mostly the gardens, so you don't hear the
noise of the town, you know the noise of the cars. So this is what's known as the Royal quarter. And
this is where the Sultan and his family behind these gold railings up there. That's where they'd
have done their Salah and their worship and it was a safety issue as well to make them safe
hamdulillah but there is a secret here because Sultan Akhmad was also a humble believer, and he
feared Allah. So behind these gold railings is like inside the wall is a little space with just some
		

			prayer mats and an attack for Wazoo where he would go into solitary, solitary worship. If decaf we
call it really overwhelming. I think the intricacy of it that every tile has its certain place.
Every piece of glass is this incredible vibrant blue.
		

			Because the amount of calligraphy here that tells you about Allah to Allah and the Holy Quran it's
layer upon layer. It's so yeah, it's overwhelming.
		

			999
		

			don't mind I
		

			don't mind I
		

			don't mind I don't mind. I don't mind. I don't mind I don't lie and I know mine died. I don't lie,
lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie lie low lying.
		

			When the Ottoman Turks built a mosque, they did not limit it only to a place of worship, but rather
a kuliah a large complex of buildings. So the Sultan ashmit mosque also included a hospital, and the
dresser, which was a higher educational institute, and a soup kitchen to feed the poor, plus them as
a primary school and a market. The shops surrounding the complex still pay rent today towards its
upkeep. In Ottoman tradition. The whack also took care of the poor, the sick students and even
travelers, they would have been looked after in part by these rents. What a beautiful way to sustain
so much caring society Miller
		

			by
		

			we were invited to lunch inside the former kindergarten which today is now a center for tourists,
where they go to learn more about the mosques and get some facts about Islam is a very special place
		

			to live and we will explain you
		

			know
		

			the, you know, one of the things that we can take from this is the fact that this mosque is the most
visited mosque, look at the people who are coming here. There's Muslims, there's non Muslims,
there's people from this city, there are tourists, they all come here and this place is still
sanctified as a place of worship. And I think that alone is proof of enough as to the near of this
assault on when he wanted to build this place. And he wanted to have people worship here. This was
fulfilled by Allah azza wa jal and look at the funnel of Allah in terms of this incredible Masjid.
How Allah azza wa jal not only preserves it for time and for mankind to visit and learn from but
		

			also for them to take in from its beauty and worship Allah to great mosques right now today and
modern Turkey, speaking to each other and calling people to come to prayer. It is really truly epic.
		

			That's incredible.
		

			What can we take away from this beautiful renovation project? And the original project of Salton
Akhmad the First well look around you, it was always a Coulier, a center for Islamic life. And
today, when we come let's have a sense of awe and respect, because this gem by the Grace of Allah
still exists for prayer and for the people today. If you enjoy these videos, like and subscribe to
my channel for more Islamic perspectives on our history, salaam alaikum.