Prophet’s cloak attracts faithful

Special Ramadan display at mosque in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, June 14, (AFP): A long queue of men and women standing in separate lines extends from an Istanbul mosque to see a centuries-old garment pressed down flat inside an glass exhibition case: the Prophet Mohammed’s sacred cloak made of linen, cotton and silk.

The Hirka-i Serif (the Noble Cloak) was brought to Istanbul in the seventeenth century, at a time when the Ottoman Empire controlled much of the Islamic world deep into today’s Saudi Arabia.

Every year, during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the cloak is put on special display at the Hirkai Serif Mosque in Istanbul, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors.

“I was here last year. God willing, I will be here next year as long as I am alive,” 78-year-old Nimet Sahin said, as caretakers warned visitors selfies were not appropriate.

Pilgrimage

Neziha Polat, 76, said she felt as if she was in Makkah, the holy Islamic city to which all Muslims are required to make a pilgrimage in their lifetimes.

“I come here every year and have the same feeling. Let God not diminish this feeling in our heart,” she said in tears.

The garment had been entrusted to Uwais Al-Qarni, who went in the seventh century to Madinah to see Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) but had to return to Yemen due to his mother’s illness without seeing the prophet.

Impressed by the story, Mohammed gave his cloak via companions to AlQarni as a present and he received the garment in Yemen.

Al-Qarni had no children and the relic was then preserved by his relatives, Istanbul mufti Hasan Kamil Yilmaz said.

In 1611 Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I brought the holy cloak to Istanbul from Kuasadasi in western Turkey where alQarni’s relatives had preserved it.

“Since then Hirka-i Serif has been in

African country to help stem the spread of militant groups there and potential spillover across its borders.

Algeria has joined with North African neighbour Tunisia to seek support for an inclusive dialogue in Libya, where competing governments and armed supporters have struggled for control since a 2011 civil war ousted veteran leader Muammar Istanbul,” Yilmaz told AFP.

And in 1851, Sultan Abdul Majid built the Hirka-i Serif Mosque in the Fatih district with the goal of preserving and exhibiting the cloak.

“There are two keys to the cloak — one held by the foundation and the other by the family,” he said.

The sacred garment has passed on from one generation to another and its current head keeper is Baris Samir — the 59th generation grandson of the alQarni who was first given the garment.

“It’s a very honourable duty. We are very happy to perform it, and have such a responsibility,” Samir told AFP. “It’s also a tough job, it is a tough responsibility, morally and financially.”

An old man, wearing an Islamic skullcap and waiting his turn in the queue to see the garment, said he was at peace.

Precious

“What can be more precious than this in life?” he asked. “I have seen this before I die.”

Zehra, 48, said it was a great happiness for the Muslims even to lay eyes on the Prophet’s cloak. “I believe that brings us closer to him.”

Every year, over one million believers come to see the sacred garment from all over the world.

“People from Siberia to Africa, from America to Far East come and see the Prophet’s cloak,” Samir said.

“The number of visitors usually exceeds one million. We receive many visitors especially on the Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny marking when the Holy Quran was revealed) because the cloak can be seen till the morning.” Loukman Hakim, 49, a businessman from Malaysia, was among the visitors, along with a group of around 20 Malaysians.

“Of course it makes us closer to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),” Hakim told AFP outside the mosque after seeing the sacred cloak.

“It makes us happy, it makes us feel that we have to do something to be

Gaddafi.

France aims to play a bigger role in bringing Libya’s factions together to end the turmoil that has allowed Islamist militants to gain a foothold and migrant smugglers to flourish in the absence of a strong central government. (RTRS)

Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister Abdelkader Messahel (left), discusses with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, after a joint press conference held in

Algiers, Algeria, on June 13. (AP)

with him meaning to say that we have to spread the love, spread the teaching, spread all the goodness that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had brought into this humankind,” he added.

Samir said the cloak’s display was a meeting point between the Prophet and the believers. “We are happy to bring them together.”

Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday dismissed as “absurd” the jailing in Tunisia of people who fail to observe the Ramadan fast.

There is no law against eating or drinking in public during Ramadan, but every year the issue comes to the fore in the North African country.

On Monday, a court sentenced to one month in prison a man who smoked a cigarette in public during the dawn-to-dusk fast.

Informed

He was seen smoking outside the Bizerte courthouse by a judiciary official who informed the police and they arrested him.

Prosecuting people on a charge of “public indecency” for smoking or eating in public during Ramadan “is a clear violation of individual freedoms in Tunisia”, Amnesty said in a statement Tuesday.

“Imprisoning someone for smoking a cigarette or eating in public is an absurd violation of an individual’s personal freedoms,” said the rights group’s North Africa research director, Heba Morayef. “Failing to conform to religious and social customs is not a criminal offence.”

She said the “authorities should not allow vaguely worded charges to be used to impose harsh sentences on spurious grounds. Everyone should have the right to follow their own beliefs in matters of religion and morality.”

On Sunday, dozens of Tunisians demonstrated in Tunis to demand the right to eat and drink in public during Ramadan.

Tunisia launches green police:

Tunisia on Tuesday launched a special “green police” unit aimed at dealing with the proliferation of waste, a scourge that has worsened dramatically since the 2011 revolution.

“May God help you — it’s a very difficult mission,” Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said at the launch of the unit, with their new uniforms and GPS-equipped pick-ups.

The North African country’s rubbish woes have worsened because municipalities are not dealing with the problem in advance of local elections slated for December.

There is also a lack of equipment, treatment centres and landfills, Environment Minister Riadh Mouakher said. (AFP)

Turkish lawyer gets jail:

Turkish court sentenced on spying charges main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Enis Berberoglu to 25 years in prison on Wednesday, Turkish television channels reported.

Berberoglu, who became the first CHP lawmaker to be handed prison time, was accused of providing Cumhuriyet newspaper with video purporting to show Turkey’s intelligence agency trucking weapons into Syria.

A report in Cumhuriyet newspaper in May 2015 said that trucks allegedly owned by Turkey’s state intelligence service, were found to contain weapons and ammunition that were headed for Syria when they were stopped and searched in southern Turkey in early 2014. (RTRS)