First a correction. In one of my earlier blogs I said that the Bosphorus Strait connects the Black Sea and the Aegean. that was not accurate. The Bosphorus connects an almost entirely enclosed body of water called the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea.
I also swhould say a word or two about the extraordinary group of people traveling with me.
We all met to begin our journey on Friday, July 24 at Hotel Anka in Istanbul. One of our two leaders, Kenan, picked me up at Hotel Eres. We gathered my luggage to take the train to the new hotel, but first went to lunch at Simit Serayi (as noted earlier, Turkish fast food). Kenan was anxious to make Friday prayers (Friday is the equivalent of Sunday for Christians)and he offered to leave me at the restaurant. I asked to go along. The mosque we went to was of the local neighborhood variety. Not historical. It was only about 200 meters from the waters of the Golden Horn.
Two interesting things happened at prayers. First, at one point I decided to get down on the carpeted floor with the men who were prostrating themselves as part of the prayer ritual. I got down, but discovered that my left wrist was still not strong enough to get me to my feet and it took several men to help me up. I felt really embarassed.
Second, there is always preaching by an Imam on Friday, and this time the Imam preached on a text i had heard before.
Kenan told me he had spoken about the end time (something that Christians and Muslims have in common as the Day of Judgement). But the text he chose to speak about is, I believe, a Hadith, or saying of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH). According to the tale, a follower of Islam asks Muhammad if he should tie up his donkey when he comes to prayers, or trust Allah. Muhammad looks at the man for a long time and say, You should trust Allah, of course...AND tie up your donkey!" As Christians say, God helps those who help themselves.
That evening we were driven to a lovely contemporary restaurant in the suburs of Istanbul for supper and the opportunity to introduce ourselves to each other.
I introduced myself and passed around to each participant a sheet of paper with information about Interfaith Paths to Peace, and about me. I also distributed the small blue pins I have that bear the symbols of the Abrahamic (including Sarah and Hagar)religions and the American/English peace symbol.
Then the others introduced themselves. Our group included Hasan Ozturk, a Ph.D. candidate in political science3 at UK, and my friend Kenan, who just received his masters in electrical engineering from the University of Louisville. Kenan hopes to move to Tennessee Tech this fall to begin work on his doctorate.
The other participants include:
Anthany Beatty – Assitant VP for Public Safety, University of Kentucky, Former Police Chief of Lexington
Eunice Beatty – Retired Professor, University of Kentucky's Bluegrass Community and Technical College
Carey Cavanaugh – Former U.S. Ambassador, Director of Patterson School of Diplomacy, University of Kentucky
Chase Cavanaugh – Senior at Notre Dame University, just back from a year of study abroad in Paris
Alan DeYoung – Educational Policy Chair, College of Education, University of Kentucky
Sakah Mahmud – Professor Political Science, Transylvania University in Lexington who is originally from Nigeria.
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