For possibly first time in history, women take lead in building mosque in Turkey.
By Syed Ashja Haider. Monday, 7. December 2009, 17:20:43
There is a shiny addition among the Ottoman mosques and palaces that make up Istanbul's stunning skyline: the metallic, mirrored dome of the new Sakirin Mosque, a Muslim place of worship built with a woman's touch.
For what may be the first time in history, women have been at the forefront of the construction of a mosque in Turkey.
One of the project's leaders is Zeynep Fadillioglu, an interior decorator who has designed restaurants, hotels and luxury homes from New Delhi, India, to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and London, England.
Turkey's First Mosque Designed by a Woman.
Women's rights in the Islamic world are grim; even in Turkey, which has a secular government, feminism is still a foreign concept. But Zeynep Fadillioglu has quietly pulled off a coup: She's the first woman in Turkey to design a mosque. An interior designer known for jet setting ways, she nonetheless won a commission to redesign the religious structure in Istanbul. She even recruited women to help in the construction. Begun last year, the project was just recently completed. It's a fairly impressive building, subtly blending modern techniques and materials into what might be the world's most conservative design vernacular.
Check it out:
The quibla wall, which faces Mecca. The archway you see is the mihrab--an essential feature of a mosque's quibla wall. To the right is the minbar--the pulpit for the Imam:
The view from the balcony. Women and men are separated in mosques; men worship on the main floor. The spaces occupied by women are frequently cramped, but Fadillioglu made a point of giving women a space equal to the main floor, in size and beauty:
For what may be the first time in history, women have been at the forefront of the construction of a mosque in Turkey.
One of the project's leaders is Zeynep Fadillioglu, an interior decorator who has designed restaurants, hotels and luxury homes from New Delhi, India, to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and London, England.
Turkey's First Mosque Designed by a Woman.
Women's rights in the Islamic world are grim; even in Turkey, which has a secular government, feminism is still a foreign concept. But Zeynep Fadillioglu has quietly pulled off a coup: She's the first woman in Turkey to design a mosque. An interior designer known for jet setting ways, she nonetheless won a commission to redesign the religious structure in Istanbul. She even recruited women to help in the construction. Begun last year, the project was just recently completed. It's a fairly impressive building, subtly blending modern techniques and materials into what might be the world's most conservative design vernacular.
Check it out:
The quibla wall, which faces Mecca. The archway you see is the mihrab--an essential feature of a mosque's quibla wall. To the right is the minbar--the pulpit for the Imam:
The view from the balcony. Women and men are separated in mosques; men worship on the main floor. The spaces occupied by women are frequently cramped, but Fadillioglu made a point of giving women a space equal to the main floor, in size and beauty:
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