Obama Visits The Blue Mosque

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, aka “Blue Mosque”, Istanbul, Turkey

Though the bulk of US media coverage of President Obama’s tour to the Middle East shows visuals of him addressing the Turkish Parliament in Ankara and US troops outside Baghdad, the one that captures my interest is his visit to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque.

I was there almost a decade ago to the day. Notwithstanding that I went there primarily to view its architectural magnificence, it was one of the more profound religious moments of my life. It was as if I had entered a vast worship capacitor, charged by centuries of devotional intent…

Upon my arrival at what is known in the Muslim world as  The Sultan Ahmed Mosque , I was asked by a young attendant to remove my shoes and place them next to thousands of others outside the door. My hesitation was due to the fact that these were my prized and expensive traveling boots, a fact easily discerned by my Muslim brother.

“Don’t worry,” he said, with an easy and forgiving grace. “We don’t steal– we’re Muslims.”

“Right. You do that ‘cutting off the hands thing’ to thieves,” I imagined myself mimeing and saying, long after the event in one of those cognitive tricks of memory embellishment that we are all too prone to committing…

The Blue Mosque is one of humanity’s architectural marvels. One enters via a series of domed vestibules, each more magnificent than its predecessor. Each inspires awe and a sense of completion,  an illusion one soon discovers upon entering the central dome, the inner sanctum, the vault of heaven…

A fitting coda to our new president’s call for a humble foreign policy.

The reflective powers of the mind are deepened and broadened by worship. Prayer may enrich the life, but worship illuminates destiny.
—The Urantia Book