Mosque Ettiquete in Turkey for Visitors

Today we will explain you mosque etiquette in Turkey. How to dress, how to enter, what is acceptable and what is not. All of these questions will be answered in today's video. In this video, we will explain you mosket ticket in Turkey. If these applications are different in your country, please let us know in the comment section down below. So first of all, how to dress? Both men and women need to cover their shoulders, chest, belly, and knees. so you can wear shorts in summer, you can wear dress, but it needs to be long enough that it covers your knees. So another thing is shoulders. So for example, you can wear t-shirt, no problem in summer, but it needs to be covering your shoulders. So tank tops are not okay for men as well. Another thing is chest and belly. So especially in summer we see lot of people wearing like more light revealing clothes. These are not accepted in entering mosque. So for both men and women you need to be covering these body parts. Now for ladies there's an additional rule which is the covering of the hair. And so for covering your hair you can use hoodie if you have in if you're visiting in fall or winter. But your all of your hair needs to be tucked inside completely. So, this is mistake we see lot of tourists do every day. They are wearing hoodie or scarf, but they're not wearing it properly. Parts of their hair are outside below the scarf or at the back of their scarf. So, you need to make sure all of your hair is covered inside the scarf or hoodie. Now, hoodie is acceptable, but hat won't work in most cases because it won't be covering all of your hair. So if you go to mosque and you don't have scarf with you or hoodie with you, in most cases, almost all the mosques will have headscarf which you can borrow before entering the mosque. Another thing you should pay attention to, especially for ladies, is that you cannot wear too tight dresses like leggings for example. In most cases, they will give you an additional pants or like body cover to wear even though you're technically covering your legs. So, also keep in mind jeans or any kinds of you know pants are okay. Dress is okay as long as it's long enough. These are acceptable. Just not tight, leggings, yoga pants, those are not okay. shorts or dresses that are too short that are above the knee level, those are also not okay. And that's all you need to know. So, as long as for both men and women, you cover these body parts. And for ladies, you also pay attention to tight clothes and your hair, you're good to go. Another thing we should pay attention to is how and when to enter mosque. So we see lot of people either removing or wearing their shoes too early when entering or exiting mosque. This is very common mistake which we also mentioned in our mistakes video. We made video about most common mistakes when visiting Istanul and we mentioned this in that video. We'll leave link in the description down below. So now that we are inside the mosque, let's talk about mosque etiquette inside the mosque. what is acceptable and what is not. First of all, speaking. As you can see, have changed my tone of speech. was talking lot louder outside, but now I'm talking more quietly inside. This you don't need to whisper. You can just talk normally but quietly, respectfully inside the mosque. It is okay to talk unless there is prayers are happening. But if you're visiting as tourist and it's not praying time, it is okay to talk with quiet voice. What about sitting or standing or laying? Now sitting is okay. You can sit in any comfortable position as you want. standing is of course okay but not laying. So you can sit on the carpet. You will see other people sitting on the carpet comfortably and no problem with sitting directly on the carpet. What about food and drinks? So in mosque we pray on the carpet on the floor. So definitely no food. So no no no eating anything in mosque. drinks you can bring water but that's it. So don't enter mosque with any other beverage like juice or coffee or something but you can bring bottle of water and drink that. It's okay. And lastly, pictures and videos. Now, of course, you can take pictures and you can make videos in Blue Mosque, in Chile, man, in Hag Sophia. Of course, you can do that, but there are just some certain things you should know. First of all, don't use flash as it might be distracting and disrespectful. And also, don't take pictures or videos of people praying from the front. Now when you're entering mosque like Blue Mosque for example, you will notice that men pray in the front and women pray in the back. So when you turn back you will be able to see the women praying but don't take picture from the front while they're praying. You will be in front of them as this will be disrespectful but you can take picture of the mosque of the beautiful tiles and the walls and the dome and there will be people praying in front of you at that moment. But this is okay. This is how everybody is taking their pictures and videos. Anyway, just keep this in mind. You can take pictures and videos but without flash and not from the front. And then you're good to go. And this is it for today's video, guys. We hope you liked this video. Today's video was short but an important one. We'll be back soon with longer video introducing you an old neighborhood of which you probably haven't heard of. Stay tuned for our next video, guys. And once again, thank you for watching.