Eyups and downs

We went up the Golden Horn today to see Eyup, which is the name of Muhammed's standard bearer who fell during the Prophet's attempt to take Constantinople, the mosque complex that was built around his tomb by the Ottomans, and the entire city district surrounding that mosque. We visited all three.

The district of Eyup seemed, by and large, much like every other district of Istanbul. The sun shone, the flowers bloomed, etc. The one startling difference was the considerable portion of the area that's been set aside as a huuuuuuge cemetery for those wishing to be buried close to Eyup (the man, not the building or the district). Dr. Shields noted that, apart from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Eyup's tomb is one of the closest connections Muslims have to Muhammed, so it's pretty key.

Eyup Mosque is the primary site for boys' circumcision ceremonies, which take place when they are around ten (!) years old. This is apparently done regardless of the day-to-day religiousity of the child's family, meaning that Turks from every point along the spectrum of Islam seen in Istanbul collect at Eyup. They provide a fascinating picture of Turkey's struggle to be Western and Muslim simultaneously.

At one end you have fully covered women approaching Eyup's tomb with all due reverence, touching the screen that surrounds it with trembling fingers, occasionally weeping in the process, and backing away from the tomb as they leave. Somewhere further along the spectrum you have well-dressed women wearing fashionably-colored headscarves that are so badly positioned it's clear they've worn one perhaps twice before in their life. At the absolute far end of the spectrum you have our tour guide for the day, who, when I asked about the people praying towards Eyup's tomb and how that squares with Islam's forbidding praying towards any kind of intercessor between man and God, laughingly replied "Oh, ignorant people believe all sorts of silly things about religion."

As I reflect I suppose this isn't too different from the religious spectrum in the States, yet somehow the spread in Turkey seems more... dire. Perhaps because we've had 250 years to get used to the separation of church and state while Turkey's only had 75, perhaps because secularism and Islamism can be (and are) the founding philosophies of major political parties, I am far more unsure about Turkey's ability to reconcile disparate religious elements.