After lunch was our afternoon prayer time. Mustafa, our tour guide took us to the Sultan Ahmet Camii, or better known as the Blue Mosque. I’ve seen pictures and had a vague idea of how big the mosque was. As I walked under a heavy iron chain and crossed the threshold, I remember gasping and my aunt who was right behind me muttered, “SubhanAllah.” Which meant, ‘God is great’. Indeed, God is great.

My pictures, or any other pictures I’ve seen on Google couldn’t justify how grand the mosque was. The sight just literally too my breath away and this was just outside. Walking through the mosque grounds reminded me of the time long ago I was in Masjidil Haram in Makkah. It was cold, the floor was marble white and the mosque loomed before me. Of course, the Blue Mosque is little compared to the grand Masjidil Haram.

The mosque was widely known as the Blue Mosque because of the colour of the tiles adorning the interior of the mosque.

Apparently, every part of the mosque is symbolic. Back in the day, only the sultan was allowed to enter the court of the mosque on horseback. All ye commoners walked. The iron chain that hangs in the upper part of the entrance to the mosque grounds was placed there so that the sultan had to lower his head every time he entered the grounds to avoid being hit. There is no greater power than God, even the sultan, revered by man, wasn’t spared.

Magnificent isn’t it?

Even when we were to visit many other mosques in the coming days, the Blue Mosque had a special place in my heart because none of the other mosques blew my mind away like this one.