The Eyüp Sultan Mosque is generally considered to be the most holy place within the city of Istanbul for Muslims. The mosque grounds reportedly contain the tomb of Eyüp, the standard-bearer (flag carrier) for the Prophet Muhammad. The mosque is a particularly popular place for veneration of Eyüp. Most guidebooks warn tourists not to even attempt to go to the Eyüp Mosque on Fridays, because it is mobbed. This is especially true if the Friday in question falls during Ramadan. Fortunately we know enough to be a little more specific. Friday around noon is the most important (and mandatory) prayer time for Muslim men. At the noon Friday prayers there is a sermon and this is the main gathering time for the community. Because Ramadan is a holy month and the Eyüp Mosque is the most holy of mosques in Istanbul, it is absolutely mobbed during Friday prayers, so of course we decided to go. We decided to show up a bit earlier to miss the rush, so we could be out of the mosque by the time the prayers start (when they would have kicked us out anyway). This was interesting because it allowed us to see the crowds coming, but we didn't actually get stuck in them.
There are several things that I find to be particularly appealing about this mosque. The first is that this is the mosque with the largest women's space of any I've seen in Istanbul. The main floor (men's space) isn't particularly larger than other big mosques, but the women's space includes not only the usual balcony but also several extra prayer rooms and a bridge over the main courtyard. Whenever I go to this mosque I always see lots of women using the space, and often their young children are with them. There's something quite appealing to me about a mosque that has made extra accommodations for women to pray. This isn't just an accommodation to make things easier for men, it's truly a place set aside to meet the women's spiritual needs, and it means that unlike almost any other mosque I've been in, women actually have about the same amount of space as men do.
Another thing that I like about this mosque in terms of the teaching opportunity it offers is that the tomb is on the opposite side of the courtyard from the mosque. Muslims pray facing Mecca, so mosques originally built to be used as mosques have the front of the prayer space aligned with Mecca if at all possible, and are usually entered from a courtyard behind the mosque. The tomb is accessible only from the courtyard, so when people stand in front of it, they are facing away from Mecca. The curious thing about having the mosque and tomb next to each other is that it's very obvious when people pray to the saint. They clearly face the opposite direction from Mecca. Praying to saints is not orthodox Islam; it's a popular religious practice. In this space, then, the discrepancies between "proper," Orthodox Islam and popular but not technically "correct" practices are very easy to observe.
The mosque is also surrounded by sellers of religious paraphernalia (religious books, prayer beads, scarves, etc). I enjoy walking through this area and observing what people are buying, what types of things are for sale, and who buys what (e.g. tourists vs locals vs Muslims from other places).
I think the students found the trip to Eyüp interesting too, and hopefully someone will post photos.
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