Turkey and it's smooth moves!

Hello dear reader and welcome to the MOST awaited country of my Europe trip. I’ve been getting Facebook messages, tweets, and Instagram comments all of which outline your impatience because you are all SO excited for this country.

The Blue Mosque and all of its 6 pillars! 

Now before I get into this wonderful city I have to admit something to you guys. You know how we all have a list of place that outline where we want to travel in the world? Well, guess which city didn't make it on mine. 

Guess.

If you gasped and made a “you-did-not” face, you guessed it. Istanbul was NEVER on my list. The city didn’t even occur to me. I know most of you are horrified right now, a few of my friends even threatened to disown me, so, I don’t blame you. But, for some odd reason the city didn’t ever cross my mind. 

Is that weird? 

Anyways, because Istanbul wasn’t on my list I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it. It was the last stop in my trip and Switzerland had already given me everything I wanted so Istanbul was just a city where I would enjoy my few days in the sun before returning to the confused Canadian weather.

I managed to land in Istanbul around 6:00 pm, which meant that I could sneak some of the city in the evening, but, unfortunately for me, Istanbul had other plans. 

It was raining really hard and the traffic was absolutely horrible! My flight to Istanbul was shorter than my drive to the hotel. (I think Istanbul saw my travel list and decided that it wanted revenge).

It was crazy.

Nonetheless, after FINALLY getting to my hotel, I decided to be a good sport and went out to lift my dampened spirits with some hot Turkish food. And, oh my god, dear reader. The food.

THE FOOD.

So good. So very, very, very good!

I ate like I had been on a diet my entire life and my 10 pounds magically transformed into 30. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but you should be used to this by now. It’s me.

Anyways, after the amazing food was a day jam-packed (that’s right, I said jam-packed!) with history, culture, and religion.

I was blown away, dear reader, by the abundance of historical entities and by the measures that were taken to preserve them.

As a Muslim living in Canada I had never really had a chance to look at Islamic history from such proximity. Turkey changed it all for me. 

I got to see canonical buildings, artifacts, and institutions that were a strong part of the Turkish history. I want to bore you with facts, dear reader, fact and dates and stories that belong to Turkey.

I want to teach you Turkish History 101: The awesomeness that is the history of Turkey.

I am still that excited. But you’re going to have to check my Facebook page for pictures and facts about the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, The Ottoman Empire, and Basilica Cistern. They are indeed as epic as they sound.

What I’m going to focus on instead, dear reader, is what experiencing the history of Turkey meant for me. 

As I mentioned earlier that this was the first time I ever felt such a connection to my religion and to the history of my religion. This connection sparked something inside of me. It made me conscious about my life decisions and my priorities.

The Turks developed their city by focusing their attention on religion and education. They used their times wisely and purposefully, always thinking about the future of their people. For example, the Basilica Cistern was built in the 6^th century during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor. 

Why?

 Because the Emperor didn’t want his people to die from a drought. So, he built a huge underground water source covering 9800 square meters and filled it with barrels of water.

The Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, made sure that every single person under their rule was educated in every subject, thus resulting in multiple ground breaking inventions. For example, the Hagia Sophia was destroyed and rebuilt three times because of the constant earth quakes in the country. The architect in charge of the building understood the land’s nature and decided to add additional columns in such a way that the building survived every earth quake after that.

What I mean to point out with all of these examples is the ideals, the principles and the goals that a nation like that had. Turkey was a highly successful country under their reign. Why? Because I believe that they had the right formula. Their use of education allowed them to compete, and even beat, the leading nations of their time. Individuals understood the significance of time, purpose and knowledge and were able to use these factor in ways that were revolutionary.

I think, dear reader, that we need to take a good hard look at ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves, “Do I embody the morals, the principles, and the qualities of an individual who is capable of revolutionary accomplishments? Am I passing this information on to the next generation? Do I do right by others by keeping justice and integrity in mind or do I wrong individuals based on my own short comings?”

We cannot hope to be a successful generation, dear reader, if we don’t understand the factors that matter. We give too much importance to things that are temporary and, to a certain extent, useless. We have to move past selfies, whiter teeth, abs, and competing for the most likes on our latest Instagram photos. Do we want to be more than a plastic collage of selfies? Is that the history we want our nation to have OR do we want to inspire, educate, encourage and motivate individuals to think openly, act righteous, practice justice and embrace diversity ?

The choice is yours, dear reader, and for further dramatic effect in the infamous words of V.Roth I say to you: “choose wisely.”

Until next time, smiles up and doubts down. 

isheeza