Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.

I feel guilty neglecting this new little blog of mine, work has consumed my life. I'll be a better blogger after April and will update with more new pictures from Latin America and the Caribbean. Now about this beautiful quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton, which speaks to me in more ways than one. Whenever I'm traveling somewhere, I pay special attention to places of worship and the mythologies/stories often told about whom we choice to worship or document in history books and display in museums.So during my visit to Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace Museum, in Istanbul, Turkey, what captured my attention the most is how early Christianity and Islamic architect, paintings and writings intersect in a harmonious, yet powerful ways. I'm always fascinated about those periods we often romanticize or look on through the lens of a believer and wonder how we would feel if time travel existed and we can experience it even for a day. In the words of Khalil Gibran, "I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit." 

Some of these historical pieces on display at the museum are hard to authenticate, such as the The Ark of the Covenant of Moses (PBUH), or foot print of Prophet Mohamed (SAW) so to speak. Regardless, here are some of the pictures I captured on camera and few send to me by the security guard at the Topkapi Museum (out of the blue he volunteered to email me some of the more sensitive images) since we were not allowed to flash our camera on some of these ancient pieces.

Topkapi Palace Museum pre & post Christ 

The Ark of the Covenant of Moses

The Sword of David with Torah quotes engraved on it

The armor of John/Yahya + the head gear of Abrahim (p.b.u.t)

 The old entry door to Makkah @ the time of the Prophet

 The sword of Prophet Mohamed (pbuh)

The black tomb of Makkah

 foot print of prophet Abrahim (pbuh)

 

hair of Pr. Mohamed (saw)

 foot print of Pr. Mohamed (saw)

Aya Sophia and Byzantine paintings of Jesus Christ

all painted in gold and discovered centuries later

The Blue Masjid/Mosque

during Jummah prayer on our last day.