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Volume 3 63 |
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A–Z |  |
WRAPPED IN QUIET CONTEMPLATION OF HOLY WRIT
| Having performed the necessary ablutions — for no good Moslem dare repeat the name of God with unclean lips — this aged inhabitant of Constantinople is reading and repeating the sacred words of the Koran. He is seated in quietude in a shady corner of the old courtyard of the Mosque of Mohammed H., place of prayer and worship regarded as second in holiness only to that of Eyúb |
READING THE KORAN IN THE MOSQUE OF AHMED
| This Constantinople mosque was built by Ahmed I. in 1608-14, and is the only one, apart from the Kaaba at Mecca, that has six minarets. These Moslem houses of prayer consist usually of a large open court with fountain, arcades, niche indicating the direction of Mecca, pulpit, and platform or platforms raised on columns from which the Koran is read and the congregation is led in prayer |