Dialogue Movement

By Eva Arnott, *Turkish Delight* - Fairfield County Weekly - Norwalk, CT, USA
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Walking the streets St. Paul walked in beautiful, multi-faith Turkey

We were a strange trio of pilgrims as we arrived at the Istanbul airport. There was the 30-ish tall, dark Turkish Imam, Ibrahim Sayar; the 60-ish American Episcopalian, Chuck; and the 70-ish Viennese-born Catholic, me.

Ibrahim leads the local chapter of the world-wide Dialogue Movement, which includes millions of moderate and observant Muslims inspired by the writings of philosopher Fethullah Gulen. Gulen's goal is to have a positive and peaceful relationship with non-Muslims. Chuck and I belong to Boston-area parishes that have ongoing social and educational relationships with this group.

Our trip to Turkey included daytime sightseeing in this beautiful, historically fascinating and orderly country, and evenings spent enjoying the hospitality of supporters of the movement.

The Blue Mosque, with its cool filtered light and reverent visitors standing quietly in personal prayer, was inspiring even to a non-Muslim. There were none of the chattering tourists with flash cameras who often spoil the atmosphere in Western European cathedrals. Some of the icons at Hagia Sophia, the massive former Byzantine cathedral, could still be seen clearly in the huge building, which has a different kind of beauty.

Out of all the major European and Middle Eastern cities I've visited, Istanbul is by far the cleanest and best kept. No one ever seems to even throw away a candy wrapper. There were no beggars and apparently no homeless people, and residents of all ages were walking around in the evenings with no concern about crime. There were none of the disheveled party-goers who can make riding on public transport unpleasant in London and Paris. About half the local women had their hair covered but there was only a very occasional burka. Usually the scarf would be carefully color-coordinated with a modestly calf-length dress or skirt.

We had dinner with members of the administration of Fatih University, a fairly new private university 20 miles north of Istanbul which is run by the movement. The thousands of students study through the medium of English with faculty who often have PhDs from U.S. universities.

After Istanbul, we flew to Izmir and visited Ephesus, which had a population of 100,000 at its height but was abandoned when the harbor silted up. As it was neither destroyed nor buried under a modern city, it is easy to imagine how it was when St. Paul was there.

We drove east to Konya, the birthplace of Rumi, where a dervish, a pleasant young man in a long white robe, told us about Sufism. Dervishes don't really whirl but have a ritual dance whose movements reminded me of Chinese group aerobics. Further east, we saw Cappadocia, where 10,000 early Christians had lived like gerbils in several layers of caves connected by secret passages while they were hiding from Roman persecution.

Throughout the trip, I was impressed by the way Ibrahim and our hosts and guides punctuated their day with prayers. When the call to prayer came from the minaret, they would find a quiet place to pray and return obviously refreshed. Even the gas stations out in the country had a prayer room behind the convenience store to which customers would go after they had pumped their gas.

Religion survived here in spite of decades of actively atheistic governments when the Koran could only be taught behind closed doors. Throughout the trip, we were met with hospitality and openness to discussion about our respective religions.

Picture: Istanbul, Sultan Ahmed Mosque (The Blue Mosque). Photo by Istock