First Night of Ramadhan in Konya, Turkey

It's the first time for me to have experienced first night of Ramadhan far away from home and the whole family.

So me and my sister decided to check out what is the usual Ramadhan activity here in Konya, Turkey but it was definitely a more confused experience than we expected.

We passed by the Selimiye Mosque before the Isha' prayers and saw lots of carpets 'sejadah' spreaded on the ground outside the mosque and we were like, 'Whoa, the Muslims here really go for terawih prayers'. Locals who saw us as tourists then told us, there was a famous dance (The Mevlana Whirling Dervishes) being performed in the gardens of the Mevlana museum every Thursday night, which is only less than a kilometer walk, so we thought why not?

As we arrived, we saw the dancers sitting on the floor, waiting. So me and my sister thought they were waiting for the Isha' Prayers Calling, to perform their Isha' prayers, then only perform their dance, which we thought was part of their culture. As how Malaysia had Zapin as a culture of a dance to be performed after prayers many many years ago.

At about 10PM when Isha' prayers are being called upon, the dance started with loud music, simultaneously. We were stunned. I was disappointed and frustrated, I could feel my heart pounding, wanting to cry. Thoughts in my head were running like, "Ya Allah, it's the first night of Ramadhan. It's near a mosque. Adhan is being recited. Why wouldn't these people wait for the Adhan to finish atleast?"

We watched the dance for a few minutes. You would be able to watch it on YouTube as well if you want to, I reckon. The dancers were spinning for ages which was pretty impressive, but I guess we were too stunned to enjoy it as much. The dance seemed more as a ritual to us rather than culture. We didn't know exactly what the dance really meant to them, but we felt uncomfortable enough to leave early. Beyond that, it was getting late just for the two of us to wander around so we decided to head back, not intending to be disrespectful. For Malaysians, this was quite similar to the 'kuda kepang' dance to us as they were reciting sentences from the Quran before they started their Mevlana Whirling Dervishes.

Anyways, on our way back, we passed by the mosque again, and Alhamdulillah, our hearts were touched and we were amazed by the amount of people praying the terawih prayers in this month of Ramadhan, especially the first night. The men and women were even praying outside the mosque ! We sat down for a couple of minutes to enjoy the scene of the prayers, and left not long later.

It was a very confusing experience for us especially coming from quite a conservative country. But that's what you gotta expect out of travelling I guess, to learn and see what other cultures have got to offer you. It was definitely an experience to be remembered.