ANATOLIA'S FRIDAY MOSQUES
Today Friday prayers and those of the Ramazan and
sacrificial feasts are performed in village mosques, but until the
end of the 13th century, these only took place in the so-called
Friday mosques in the cities. People from the surrounding villages
and towns would come to the city, and the assembled crowds would
perform the feast prayers all together in openair mosques known
as musalla. The Friday prayers, which only city dwellers performed,
only took place in a single mosque in each city. For this reason
large mosques capable of holding all the Muslim inhabitants were
built. These were variously known as mescid-i cuma, mescidlsl-âzam,
cami-i kebîr, mescidlsl câmi, mescidlsl-ekber, mescidlsl-hûtbe,
and mescidlsl minber cami. The Turks referred to these mosques,
which were built in the principal cities of Anatolia throughout
the 12th to 14th centuries, as cuma mescidi, cami-i kebîr
or more often as ulucami meaning 'great mosque'.
The custom of Muslims living in the same city gathering
for the special prayers survived until the end of the 13th century.
As well as bringing people together and strengthening social ties,
there were of course religious and political reasons behind this
custom.
Sultans and princes who felt the need to confirm
the legitimacy of their reigns by obtaining the authorisation of
the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad, used this as justification for having
sermons known as hutbe preached in their names. To symbolise this
privilege they built magnificent Friday mosques in their capitals,
with beautifully carved and decorated pulpits known as minber reserved
for the hutbe sermons.
In time, however, as the Muslim population grew,
the tradition of everyone gathering in a single mosque became impossible
to maintain, and during the time of the Memluks pulpits were installed
in some old mosques in Cairo and other large cities or new Friday
mosques were constructed.
In terms of their historic function, architecture
and spatial characteristics, Friday mosques were distinctive throughout
the Islamic world, from the steppes of Asia to Spain and North Africa.
Various other places of public worship existed, such as the cami,
mescit, kubbe, namzgâhd and musalla, each varying in form,
but it was the Friday mosque which became the most characteristic
Islamic place of worship in Arabia, Egypt, Spain, Iran, India, Turkestan
and Anatolia.
Their shared characteristics were a monumental portal,
a mihrap or alter niche, minber, and tall minaret from which the
call to prayer could be heard over a wide area. Every Friday, and
on feast days, great crowds would flock to these mosques, and the
sultan or city governor would ceremoniously enter with their retinues.
Friday mosques were regarded as holy 'houses of
God', and members of the congregation stepped onto the threshold
with their right feet, pronouncing a formula calling God's benediction
on the Prophet. Only those regarded as pure in religious terms could
enter, so it was essential to perform complete ablutions before
going to the Friday prayers, to wear on'se best clothes, and to
use perfume.
Once inside talking was frowned upon. Women could
attend the Friday prayers so long as they did not use perfume, and
prayed in special galleries reserved for them. Religious education
for both scholars and ordinary people also took place in these mosques.The
Friday mosques of Anatolia, called ulucami by the Turks, were mainly
constructed between the 12th and 14th centuries during the eras
of the Seljuks and Turkish principalities, and the early years of
the Ottoman Empire. The earliest of all are found in the southeastern
region, and the last in Bursa and Edirne. Harran Ulucami is of exceptionally
early date, having been built by the last Umayyad caliph Mervan
II (744-750), and this is followed by Diyarbakir Ulucami, which
was converted from a church in 1092 by city governor Amidüddevle
on the orders of the Seljuk sultan Meliksah. The newest in date
is Bursa Ulucami built in 1397 by the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I.
However, both in terms of their architecture and function the Eski
and Üç Serefeli mosques in Edirne dating from 1414 and
1447 respectively could be classified as ulucamis. Divrigi Ulucami
(1228) constructed by the Mengücek ruler Ahmed Sah is described
in the inscriptions over its doors as a 'mescidlti-câmiü'l-mübarek'.
This is the most outstanding masterpiece of all
Friday mosques in the Islamic world, and the one whose original
form has been preserved to the greatest extent. Other Friday mosques
which can be seen in Turkey are Siirt Ulucamii (1129), Harput (Artukoglu
Fahreddin Karaarslan) Ulucamii (1144), Niksar Ulucamii (1145),
Bitlis (Mervanoglu Ebülmuzaffer Mehmed) Ulucamii (1153), Silvan
Ulucamii (built during the Artuklu principality), Erzurum (Saltukoglu
Kizilarslan Mehmed Bey) Ulucamii (1179), Urfa Ulucamii (1191), Sivas
(Kutbeddin Meliksah) Ulucamii (1197), Mardin Çifte Minareli
Camii (1204), Kayseri (Yagibasan Oglu Muzafferüddin Mahmud
Bey) Ulucamii (1205), Kilis Ulucamii (built during the Memluk period),
Konya (Alâeddin) Ulucamii (1221), Sinop (Alâeddin) Ulucamii
(1222 ?), Nigde (Alâeddin) Ulucamii (1220's), Eski Malatya
Ulucamii (1224), Antalya Ulucamii (1230 ?), Elbistan (Emir Mübarizüddin
Çavli) Ulucamii (1239), Van Ulucamii (built during the Ilhanli
principality), Konya-Eregli Ulucamii (built during the Karamanlilar
principality), Afyonkarahisar (Sahip Ata Nureddin Hasan Bey) Ulucamii
(1273), Kastamonu (Atabey) Camii (1273), Sivrihisar Ulucamii (1275),
Beysehir (Esrefoglu Süleyman Bey) Camii (1297), Burdur Hamidoglu
Dündar Bey Ulucamii (1299), Iznik (Orhan) Camii (1331), Kütahya
Ulucamii (14th century), Aydinoglu Isa Bey Camii (1375), Manisa
Ulucamii (1376), Isparta (Kutlubey) Ulucamii (1382) and Maras Ulucamii
(built during the Dulkadirli principality).
Haghia Sophia, a Byzantine church that was converted into a mosque
following the Turkish conquest of Istanbul in 1453, could be regarded
as that city's first ulucami. Large mosques built by Sultan Mehmed
II and his successors were known as selâtin or royal mosques.
* Necdet Sakaoglu is an author
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