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On my way to Istanbul Ataturk Airport this morning, my taxi driver — breaking the silence wrought by my woefully meagre Turkish vocabulary — reached into my soul and began blasting Brooklyn Funk Essentials’ Istanbul Twilight from his dashboard. Had my wife been with me, she would have requested a rendition of a Noble Recitation, [...]

So we are making our escape, setting down in Istanbul on Saturday afternoon. That sprawling metropolis bridging Europe and Asia. InshaAllah we will pray Tarawih in one or two of the grand mosques. But soon we will be moving on. If we fly, we will be in Trabzon, eastwards along the Black Sea coast an [...]

Whilst sitting at my desk composing my last post a minute ago, two computers on in front of me (my book is on the laptop, but I had writers block, so I switched on my ancient whining monster to check my emails), I was just thrust back to Istanbul. On both computers I have Islamasoft’s [...]

There is nothing like the sound of the call to prayer from Istanbul’s mosques – comfort, despite ourselves.

Following tradition I am ill once again during my stay in Turkey. This time at least it’s not a stomach bug; I just seem to have caught a bad cold (in this heat!). Still, this hasn’t prevented me from experiencing the better things of life. I am back in Istanbul again and attended a nice [...]