DC-area Folks, New Mosque/Turkish Cultural Center Opening Today

[umsami]

Today, apparently a new mosque and Turkish cultural center opening outside of DC.  It might make a good field trip, as they're going to have a traditional Turkish bath as well as Turkish houses.  Some reports say this may be one of the largest mosques in the US.   It's a nice change (IMHO) from the Saudi funded mosques....although I'm not a fan at all of the current Turkish President.    Apparently, the government of Turkey helped purchase the land back in 1990, as well as fund the building. (Long before he was in office.)

 

http://diyanetamerica.org/

 

 

Here's a link to some of the pictures inside https://www.google.com/search?q=diyanet+center+of+america&num=20&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT5siw_vDLAhUFVh4KHSg0ByUQsAQILw&biw=1276&bih=698    Never thought we'd have a mosque that beautiful here.

 

 

 

 

In general, all mosques are open to Muslims and non-Muslims.  Usually, though, you will be asked to remove your shoes.  You are expected to dress modestly....long or 3/4 sleeves....pants or mid-calf skirt for women...etc.  They may or may not want you to cover your head, so bring a scarf with you.  For kids <10, there usually are no requirements regarding dress other than clean...and no shoes.  The older the child, the more they are expected to dress modestly. 

 

 

As an aside, many larger cities have Turkish Cultural Centers that offer free or very reduced Turkish cooking classes and Turkish language classes.  Turkish cuisine is super yummy. 

Edited April 2, 2016 by umsami

[gaillardia]

What a beautiful place!

Are you able to go to it yourself? (I thought you were out of the U.S. for now).

I haven't looked at your links yet, so that's next.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Okay I've looked at the links.

There's a restaurant too. What a great opportunity to visit and get to know more about the Turkish Muslim community.

I think if I went I would want a Muslim friend to take me; unfortunately, we're hours from DC right now.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2016 by Gaillardia

[trulycrabby]

It's lovely! I have always wanted to visit a mosque!

Edited April 2, 2016 by trulycrabby

[umsami]

What a beautiful place!

Are you able to go to it yourself? (I thought you were out of the U.S. for now).

I haven't looked at your links yet, so that's next.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Sadly, I'm far from DC right now, but in the States.  I went to school in DC, though...so this is just another excuse for a road trip. :)

[PuddleJumper1]

It is absolutely beautiful.

[Amira]

Just to chime in, dh and I visited a couple of months ago.  It really is a lovely place and there's plenty of parking.  We were there on a weekday during noon prayers and there weren't many people there.  I didn't have a scarf and I wasn't at all uncomfortable without one.  I've been inside many mosques in many countries and this one is very open and welcoming, as you'd expect in near DC.  So go. :)

[Alessandra]

It's beautiful, great location too. I was wondering if you could see it from the Beltway, the way you can get glimpses of the Mormon temple.,

 

I looked at the website and see that there are 6-7 affiliated mosques near me, but the DC one sounds special. I love how educational the website is too.

 

So, and (non-Muslim) visitors tolerated or actually welcomed, in you opinion? I've been to major tourist mosques in Istanbul, but would feel shyer here in U.S.

[Amira]

When we went, it felt like visiting most any religious site that gets touristy kinds of visitors. We didn't ask any questions or talk to anyone but I didn't feel like anyone had a problem with our being there and we wandered around and dh took lots of photos, just like we do when we visit churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, etc. when a service isn't going on. We moved out of the way when the muadhin began the adhan but continued looking around. There are signs to tell you when to remove your shoes befor entering the mosque itself.

 

I am sure they are expecting tourists and curious visitors because of their location and the style of the buildings. I felt like we could ask questions if we wanted to. It was a very similar experience to our visits to other mosques in the US.

[J-rap]

It looks beautiful with lots of interesting things to take in!  We may be going to DC later this summer, and would love to visit it.

[Daria]

Wow, that's beautiful.  i look forward to visiting.  I agree that there is a huge amount of Saudi money in the DC area, so a mosque from a different orientation is particularly welcome.

[SemiSweet]

This looks beautiful! I'm taking a sociology of religion course and one assign,net requires that I visit a religious institution, and given my Christian upbringing and the amount of Buddhist and Hindi temples I've been too, I wanted to try a mosque (I've never been in one). I think we will take a little jaunt into DC for it, and dh loves Turkish food so it'll be a win for all. :)

[Daria]

The Saudi Royal family (which is where the Saudi money in DC comes from) practices a particularly conservative form of Islam called Wahabism. The form of Islam that is most common in Turkey is more moderate.

 

Of course, I am sure that there are Wahabis in Turkey, and moderates in Saudi Arabia, but by Saudi money, I meant specifically money from the Saudi Royal family.

 

I don't know that the building would be different but the teaching would be, and the willingness to welcome a single female visitor with Western clothes (me!) certainly would be.

[Amira]

Umsami can explain it better, but mosques in the US often are funded or supported or affiliated with different countries or groups or sects just like Christian churches in the US are.  They're all mosques, but some will be more conservative or more liberal depending on a lot of different things.  Saudi Arabia has spent a great deal of money building mosques in many parts of the world (many of the mosques built in Central Asia after the breakup of the Soviet Union were funded by Saudi Arabia, for example) and those mosques usually promote Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi brand of Islam which is very much a minority view in the Islamic world.  So having a mosque with different supporters is nice and Turkey is another major source of support, although not as much as Saudi Arabia.  A Turkish-affiliated mosque will likely not be as conservative as a Saudi-affiliated one.

[Soror]

Beautiful. Hopefully some day we'll make it that way to visit. DH and I visited a Mosque in St. Louis and didn't feel unwelcome at all. I don't remember any clothing requirements. Eta- I obviously meant clothing not cloning 😀

Edited April 3, 2016 by soror

[Rachel]

We are in DC this week, as far as I know there are not any mosques where I live so this would be a good way for my kids to learn about another religion.

 

Do you think there would be a time of day that would be better to go?

[umsami]

Can someone expound on the difference between a Saudi mosque and a Turkish mosque? My ignorance is showing, but I thought all mosques were pretty much the same. *blush*

 

Everybody explained it very well, but I'll also add that a lot of the mosques in the US are funded by just the local community.... not always with foreign funding.  That's been the case where I've worshiped, at least.  But historically, I want to say starting in the 70s, the Saudis started exporting their brand of Islam around the world.  It's the extremely conservative (trying to find a nice way to describe it) sect called Wahhabism, which was a minority view, but sadly has become much much more mainstream due to Saudi money.  The Saudis also allowed foreign men to come get a college education in Islamic law/though in Saudi for free...thus exporting their Brand of Islam as well.  The US now has two different programs where people can do there own studying (in addition to general Islamic studies programs at all major universities).... one is an Islamic Chaplaincy program affiliated with Hartford Seminary in CT and the other is Zaytuna College in California, which was started by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, an American convert who trained in, I want to say, Mauritania. 

 

Turkish folks are generally less conservative... as Turkey has historically been a secular Islamic country, but things have changed a bit in recent years due to the current President, general export of more conservative Islam, Saudi-financed satellite TV stations, websites, etc.

 

 

If you do go, you can try and do a search to find the words Allah or Muhammad in the calligraphy that decorates the mosque.  Allah would look like this.   Muhammad would look like this (basically it's the Arabic version of M-H-D).  Allah really is the Arabic word for God.  See if you can find it in John 3:16 in Arabic. 

[Amira]

There's also the Islamic Center on Massachusetts Ave in DC that's more convenient for DC tourists (the Diyanet Center is a bit of a drive from DC).  It's a lovely spot to visit and has many visitors. You'll probably need to bring a scarf for that one. It's open from dawn prayers till after the final prayer. 

 

I like to visit mosques in the late morning (not on Friday) before noon prayers so we can look around when it's quiet and watch as people gather for prayers, then go when we need to.