2015-06-27

【Aiden in English】

        The mosques of Turkey are huge and spectacular. There is a great variety of them in Istanbul where the Muslims worship and pray. The Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet Camii in Turkish becomes one of the most exquisite paradigms ever since it was built in the early 17^th century and looks absolutely unique in the world.

        Well, the Blue Mosque is blue, hence the name, if you haven’t noticed. The shade of color comes from blue and green Iznik tiles throughout the mosque. The fact that the Blue Mosque neighbors the Hagia Sophia makes it hard to mask too. 

        The history behind this Muslim house seemed as full and long as the line into it. The mosque was built by the Islamic people, while some of the mosques used to be Christian or Orthodox churches like the Hagia Sophia. When the religion shifted to the Islam in this area, the Muslims simply tweaked a few things in the churches, and bam! They became mosques afterwards. However, the Blue Mosque was original to the Islam and featured 6 minarets, which were small towers that sprang out of the structure at the corners or empty areas. Yet, what made an amazing sight was actually an accident. The sultan told the architect to build an altin or gold minaret, but gold in Turkish sounded extremely close to No. 6 or alti. Therefore, instead of a gold tower that probably would be melted down and sold, we today have an extraordinary mosque. A large dome covered with 6 minarets stands on top of 12 arches, which was then supported by 4 wide and strong main pillars of marbles. 

        Unlike the Hagia Sophia, the floor of the Blue Mosque is laid over with a red carpet. The shoes have to be taken off. The shoulders, knees, and women’s heads must be covered. The blue color seemed more drastic and spread over the walls and ceilings as its name. The contrast made other colors brighter and more distinct than the dull gold in the Hagia Sophia.

        The Blue Mosque is still active in service. On Fridays, tourists aren’t even allowed to enter it until after 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The Islamic followers prayed a total of five times: early morning, noon, afternoon, early and late evenings. They faced the holiest city of Mecca, the center of the Muslim. The Islamic religion is really one of a kind and sometimes, that’s what life needs, a little “one of a kind”.

【红霞译文】

        土耳其的清真寺巍伟壮观，伊斯坦布尔有着许许多多这样为穆斯林人提供念经祷告的地方，十七世纪初期修造的蓝色清真寺就是其中最为精美的建筑典范，堪称天下无双。

        的确，蓝色清真寺带有蓝色，不妨提醒一句，它的名字由此而来。蓝色源于土耳其伊兹尼克蓝绿色瓷砖贴面，加上又与圣索菲亚大教堂为邻，一眼就能认出它来。

        蓝色清真寺历史悠久，全部由穆斯林人一手建成，而城里有些伊斯兰教堂从前不是基督教堂就是东正教堂，譬如圣索菲亚大教堂。既然伊斯兰教主导宗教信仰，穆斯林人便统统将原有教堂改头换面，啪唧！一下子变成了清真寺。然而，蓝色清真寺却独树一帜，从头到尾都是原装，六根宣礼塔即小型尖塔傲然屹立在建筑物上空，如此奇观景致其实并非设计本意，当初苏丹王要求建筑师加盖一个黄金宣礼塔，但“黄金”在土耳其语中与号码“六”发音相似，结果黄金塔化成泡影，取而代之的是眼前这个了不起的建筑，巨型圆顶连同六根尖塔建在十二个拱门之上，四根又粗又壮的大理石柱支撑整个结构。

        不像圣索菲亚大教堂，蓝色清真寺的地面全部铺上红地毯，所有人一律要脱掉鞋子，肩膀不能外露，裙子裤子必须长过膝盖。与其名称遥相呼应的是，蓝色主导一切，墙面屋顶无处不在，反倒将其它色彩衬托得比圣索菲亚大教堂死气沉沉的金黄色更加鲜艳明快。

        蓝色清真寺至今仍用于宗教活动，每个星期五在下午两点之前游客不得入内。穆斯林教徒每天祈祷五次：早晨、中午、下午、傍晚和入睡前，他们面朝圣城麦加，即穆斯林信仰的核心。由此说来，伊斯兰教确实与众不同，不过有时生活本应多元化。