Although Turkey is officially a secular country with no official religion, Islam is the most widely practiced religion and can be seen in the numerous mosques throughout the country. Here are the approximate percentages of religions in Turkey according to the official sources in 2019: Islam (89.5%), other religions including Baha'i, Christianity, Judaism, Tengrism, Yazidism, etc. (0.5%), and irreligion including Deism (4.5%), Agnosticism (2.7%), and Atheism (1.7%).
Upon analyzing the data, it can be easily inferred that mosques will have high attendance during prayer times, particularly in Istanbul. Popular historical mosques like Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque are always packed. As a tourist, we recommend avoiding these times in Istanbul and visiting during the non-prayer times in Istanbul, especially on Fridays when there is an even higher percentage of prayers attending mosques.
Turkish Muslims perform the prayer ritual known as Salah (namaz in Turkish) five times daily, according to the tenets of Islam.
Five Salahs (Namaz) of Muslims
Muslims perform Salah, also known as namāz, as a form of worship. During Salah, Muslims face the qibla and begin by standing, followed by kneeling or sitting on the ground, and they recite specific prayers and phrases from the Quran.
Although it's not required that prayer take place in a mosque, it's felt to be more appropriate and congenial in the sacred space with other Muslims. You can check the exact times for the call to prayer for any place in the world on the website of the Republic of Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) so as to plan your visits to the city's great mosques.
Salat al-fajr prayer: the dawn or any time before sunrise prayer.
Salat al-zuhr prayer: midday, after the sun passes its highest prayer.
Salat al-'asr prayer: the late part of the afternoon prayer.
Salat al-maghrib prayer: dusk or just after sunset prayer.
Salat al-'isha prayer: between sunset and midnight prayer.
Each prayer is signified through the Ezan (call to prayer for Muslims).
The Ezan: Call to Prayer
The Ezan, also known as the Azan (call to prayer), summons the faithful to the mosque for prayers. The Ezan is chanted six times daily. The exact timing of the prayer times changes from day to day and from place to place, and the calculation method is done according to longitude and latitude, sunrise and sunset, and geographical relationship (current location of the prayer) to Mecca (Mekke, Makkah), which is also the qibla direction for Muslims.
Ezan
Allahu Ekber Eşhedû en lâ ilâhe illallah Eşhedû enne Muhammeden resulullah Hayya ale-salah Hayya alel-felah Allahu Ekber Lâ ilahe illallahGod is Great There is no god but God Muhammad is the Prophet of God Come to prayer Come to salvation God is Great There is no god but God
(Thanks to Mr. Tosun Saral for the Arabic transliteration.)
A Typical Day of Salah for Muslims
Here are the names (in Turkish and Arabic) of the calls and prayers and sample prayer times in Istanbul for the ezan in mid-May in Istanbul, Turkey:
İmsak (Fajr; 03:38 am): two hours before dawn, to awaken the faithful for prayer (pretty much the middle of the night!)
Güneş (Shuruq, Tulu; 5:42 am): Dawn, before the sun appears
Öğle (Dhuhr, Zuhr; 13:12, 1:12 pm): Midday, when the sun passes the zenith
İkindi (Asr; 17:07, 5:07 pm): Afternoon, when the shadows cast by objects are equal to their height
Akşam (Maghrib; 20:21, 8:21 pm): Sunset, when the sun has disappeared below the horizon; beginning of a new day in the Islamic calendar
Yatsı (Isha; 22:08, 10:08 pm): When the last light of day has disappeared
Then, 5-1/2 hours of sleep before the next call...
What it Means to You
If you are not a Muslim, avoid visiting a mosque at prayer time, that is, at or within a half hour after the Ezan is chanted from the minarets.
Non-Muslim's should also avoid visiting on Friday from late morning through early afternoon, which is when the weekly group prayers and sermons take place. In short, if the mosque is busy with worshippers, it's polite to return later to visit.
Here's more on Turkish mosque-visit etiquette.
—by Tom Brosnahan, updated by Can Turan
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