Şehitlik Mosque – Berlin Türk Şehitlik Camii

Şehitlik Mosque with Cemetery

As the weather today was almost obtrusively serene and sunny, I decided this was the right time to take a few more pics of Berlin's fairytale-like, most fabulous mosque: The Turkish Şehitlik Mosque.

I published a little article about it here on my blog in October 2009, but that day I had forgotten to charge my camera's battery, so I could only take a few precious photos. Now I took a whole load of pics and the weather was my friend.

 

The premises consist of a cultural center and a mosque. The upper floor of the cultural center features a big terrace and a building element half the size of the ground floor. 

The mosque itself is comprised of four stories: A multipurpose hall in the basement, a prayer room on the ground floor, the mosque on the third floor and a gallery where the women usually pray.

Main prayer language is Turkish, occasionally Arabic and on Fridays prayers are read in German, too.

A brazen plaque right beside the entrance gate explains the origin of the cemetery in Turkish and German. For a short explanation visit my October 2009 article.

Here is the Turkish text:

"Berlin'de ikinci Türk Mezarliği olarak 1866 yilinda Sultan Abdulaziz zamaninda kurulmuştur. 1798 yilinda tesis olunan ilk Türk Kabristanindaki mevtalar buraya taşinmişlardir.

Mezarlari nakledilen, Prusya'da Osmanli Sefiri iken, 29 Ekim 1798 de vefat eden devlet adami, şair ve tasavvuf eri Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi ile diğer dört merhum adina 1867 yilinda kurulan abide, 1988 de Berlin Senatosu tarafindan Diyanet İşleri Türk-İslam Birliği'nin işbirliği ile tamir edilmiştir.

1920-1921 yillarinda şehitliğin ihyasinda Osmanli Büyük Elçiliği eski imami, Hafiz Şükrü Efendi 'nin büyük emeği geçmiştir. Caminin iki minareli bugünkü şekli Türk işçilerinin katkilariyla gerçekleştirilmiştir."

Official Site of Şehitlik Mosque in German language

Islam in Berlin

Background: Maschari Center with Omar-Ibn-Al-Khattar Mosque opposite Görlitzer Bahnhof

Video about Mosque

According to Euro-Islam.info around 200 000 Muslims are living in Berlin. An estimated 40 000 of them are naturalized German citizens. Altogether Berlin's Islamic population totals approximately 9% of Berlin's entire population.

Since fall 2002 the "Islamische Föderation" - due to their winning a long-lasting lawsuit against school authorities - has been teaching religious lessons in 20 public schools. Thenceforth school offices have been receiving an increasing number of petitions to excuse girls from any sorts of sporting activities.

About 82 mosques and Islamic centers are situated in Berlin. They are visited for prayer and religious ceremonies, and some of them additionally offer cultural, social or educational activities.

The majority of Berlin Muslim residents (72%) believe Muslims living in Germany to be loyal to the country. 94% of Muslims in Berlin reject violence as "an acceptable moral response for a noble cause".

Source: Euro-islam.info