Keeping It Within the Family, 1862–1908 of the Teşvikiye mosque, which all sects of the Dönme began to use for
funeral prayers before burials in the 1920 s, many attended by Sabiha Ser-
tel,^49 when they arrived in large numbers in Istanbul.
An answer to questions about Dönme mosques may come from the
architecture of Dönme schools, explored in the next chapter. Dönme
schools looked like the state school buildings of the Hamidiye era. They
were symmetrical, neoclassical, built of dressed stone masonry, and had
arched windows and ornamental staircases and entrances. Unlike state
schools, however, as we learn from the board meeting notes of the Terakki
in 1900 , by which time non-Dönme were also allowed to matriculate
there, Dönme schools did not contain mosques.^50 For had they done so,
Muslim students might have noticed something was different about the
prayers conducted there. It is more credible that Dönme who still prac-
ticed their religion in the early twentieth century prayed together along
with other Dönme in neighborhood mosques where they predominated,
before finally building their own, exclusive mosque.
The Dönme New Mosque is not only architecturally diverse, but il-
lustrates how Dönme buildings were adorned with meanings, temporal
as well as ritualistic, only they could create, making what was Jewish or
Islamic into their own. The first is the Ottoman inscription on the sun-
dial, “Turn your clocks back ten minutes.” This may be a reference to
the Dönme custom of publicly fulfilling all of the requirements of Sunni
Islam, but with slight alterations. Thus, for example, Dönme ended their
Ramadan fast each day five minutes prior to its official end, invalidating
it. The second is the Arabic inscription in gold letters within the white
marble of the mosque’s prayer niche (qiblah), which states, “Turn your
face in the direction of the Noble Sanctuary.” This Qur’anic verse ( 2 : 142 –
44 ) is a logical one for a qiblah of a mosque, for it tells the believers
to cease praying toward Jerusalem like Jews and to turn toward Mecca,
since they are a distinct community of God that has replaced the Jews
as God’s covenanted people. One can find other Ottoman mosques with
the same inscription over the qiblah. However, in choosing this particu-
lar verse, the Dönme expressed their turning away from the practices of
their Jewish ancestors, distinguishing themselves from Jews, just like the
first believers in seventh-century Arabia, who had also turned away from
Jewish practices. Yet another reading of the same verse allows the Dönme
to express their distinction from Muslims, for the Dönme did not act
as other Muslims. The verse tells the Dönme to face the right direction