The Ahi Celebi Mosque is the starting point of the first travel book in the history of the world.
This Mosque, located in Eminonu (Istanbul), has an exceptional value in the life of the renowned Ottoman traveller, Evliye Çelebi, the author of Seyahatname, the ‘Book Of Travels’. We visited the Mosque earlier on in the month October and found out the following.
Çelebi dreamt that he saw this Mosque. Upon entering, he saw many saints and prophets as well as Companions of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH. They were all gathered for the morning prayer and the person leading was the Prophet PBUH himself.
After the prayer, the Prophet PBUH called Çelebi towards him. After kissing the hands of the Prophet PBUH and becoming overwhelmed with emotions, Çelebi said, ‘Itineration Oh the Messenger of Allāh!’ instead of ‘Intercession, Oh the Messenger of Allah!’ in a slip of the tongue. This was because the word ‘seyahat’ (itineration, Travel) is phonetically close to the word ‘sefaat’ (intercession on the day of Judgement).
The Prophet PBUH replied with a smile, ‘Be blessed your journey and my intercession!’.
Following this miraculous dream, Çelebi started his famous journey.
Muslims Go Travel 