Tuesday marks the start of Kurban Bayramı, also known as Eid al-Adha and the Feast of Sacrifice. It is one of two important religious holidays in Islam, the other being Ramazan Bayramı after the month-long fast. In Muslim-majority states such as Turkey, the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, Pakistan and Azerbaijan, Kurban Bayramı is a […]
A special event featuring poetry, music and dance centred on the life of the 13th century Persian poet Mevlana Celaddiin-i Rumi will be streamed globally later this week. The line-up for this special event are renowned Persian musicians Seyed Ali Jaberi and the Hamdel Ensemble, and British Turkish spiritual dancer Serap Yilmaz. The concert will be […]
Tuesday marks the start of Ramadan, or Ramazan in Turkish, for most of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. This holiest of months is when the Ku’ran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammed. Each year, Muslims go through their own spiritual reawakening. For the next thirty days, all healthy Muslims will fast during daylight hours, […]
For the past few weeks Turkish owned mosques in Northeast London, like many others across the British capital, have been calling the faithful to prayer (ezan in Turkish) from their roofs and minarets at sunset every day. Yet in these extraordinary times none have been able to visit Aziziye Mosque in Stoke Newington, Shacklewell Lane Mosque […]
Our most anticipated and holy time of the year, month of Ramadan (lunar month of the Hijri calendar), commenced at sunset on Thursday, 23 April 2020. Amazingly Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish) has a divine energy that excites most people, even non-Muslims. In Ramadan, all healthy Muslims are supposed to keep fast between dawn and sunset, […]
This Tuesday, 19 May, is the holiest night of the year in the Islamic calendar and occurs during the last ten days of Ramazan. Known in Turkish as Kadir Gecesi and in English as the Night of Power, this is the night when the first verses of the Holy Kuran were revealed to the Prophet […]
This week’s London Mevlit programme features a special guest appearance from Imam Muhittin Aydın. The muezzin at Stoke Newington’s Aziziye Mosque will be reciting Koranic prayers alongside programme host Husayn Hashim El Bakayi, the UK’s most prominent Turkish Cypriot hoca (pastor) on Sunday, 17 May. The London Mevlit programme will start straight after Kanal T’s iftar […]
My name may not give it away, but I am in fact, a practicing Muslim. I accepted Islam in early 2018, and since then, I have visited mosques all over London. Plenty of these spaces are full of beauty, warmth and spiritual calm, but one of these in particular stands out. Shacklewell Lane Mosque, also […]
Pope Francis has called on “believers of all faiths” to unite in a day of fasting, prayer and acts of charity on a single day during the holy month of Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish), when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. On Thursday, 14 May, the Pope wants the world to come together through the […]
The month of Ramadan, or Ramazan in Turkish, has started. The holiest of months for Muslims, Ramazan commemorates the time when the Ku’ran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammed. For the next thirty days, all healthy Muslims will fast during daylight hours. This means not eating or drinking anything from sunrise to sunset. Dates […]
