19.01.2025 01:31
Italian traveler Nicolo Guarrera, who is on a world tour, wanted to set up a tent in the garden of a mosque in Düzce. Due to adverse weather conditions, the mosque's imam, Hilmi Yılmaz, and the congregation offered Guarrera accommodation inside the mosque. Staying in the mosque for four nights, Guarrera was impressed by the imam's hospitality.
While traveling around the world on his bicycle, Italian Nicolo Guarrera, who passed through Düzce, wanted to set up a tent in the garden of the Kirazlı Yeni Mahalle mosque at the end of December. Noticing this situation, the mosque's imam, Hilmi Yılmaz, after discussing with the mosque congregation, stated that the foreign tourist could stay inside the mosque. Following the imam's guidance, heating was also turned on for the foreign tourist who was given a place inside the mosque.
"I HAVE NO WORDS LEFT TO DESCRIBE THE HOSPITALITY I SAW IN TURKEY" Noticing that the tourist's shoes were muddy due to the rainy weather, the mosque imam washed the tourist's shoes and returned them to him. The foreign tourist then went to the ablution area to change his clothes and later shared moments of listening to the Quran recitation in the mosque on social media, stating, "Real hospitality: being welcomed without holding back words, being fed by saying you are full, being accepted as a guest instead of being left alone, and embracing. The imam washes my shoes without saying anything, a surprise. I find him personally scrubbing in the bathroom, and when I try to stop him, he shrugs and continues to clean with a smile, meaning he is saying something that should be. Don't worry, I will do this willingly. I really have no words left to describe the hospitality I saw in Turkey."
"IT WAS COLD" Mosque imam Hilmi Yılmaz described the events of that day as follows: "It was after the afternoon prayer. When we finished the prayer and came out of the mosque, we saw our guest in the garden. We welcomed him in our own language. He said something like he wanted to rest a bit, even though he was wet and his shoes were muddy. He asked, 'Can I set up a tent?' We couldn't bear to let him stay outside in the cold. We thought it would be appropriate for him to stay inside with our congregation. That night, we hosted him in our mosque. He entered and started to rest. After our brother Nicola entered and began to rest, when I went outside, I saw that his shoes were muddy and wet. I couldn't allow him to wear wet shoes again. So, I took his shoes to clean them out of respect for our guest. I wanted him to wear dry shoes. While cleaning his shoes in the ablution area, he had gone outside to change his clothes. While I was looking for where my shoes were, the children said, 'Our teacher is cleaning his shoes.' When he saw me cleaning my shoes while he was changing in the ablution area, he was very surprised. He said, 'What was the need for that?' I replied that he was our guest and that it needed to be done," he expressed.
"HE LISTENED TO THE QURAN RECITATION WITH HIS EYES CLOSED" Imam Yılmaz stated that when he started reading the Quran before the evening prayer, Nicola Guarrera gathered his feet, crossed them over his knees, and listened to the recitation with his eyes closed. "After the evening prayer, when I came back to the mosque for the night prayer, I thought I would recite some Quran. When I entered, he was resting. He was sitting with his feet towards the Qibla in the mosque. Not wanting to disturb him, I passed by and started to read the Quran. When our foreign friend saw that I started reading the Quran, he lifted his feet from the Qibla and came to the area where I was reciting to listen to me. He then got up and sat in the front row on his knees. While I was reading the Quran, he listened with his eyes closed. While we were performing the night prayer, he also performed the night prayer with us in his own way. After the night prayer, we chatted with him in the middle of our mosque. We stated that Allah created us all. He saw the Arabic words written on the walls of the mosque. We showed him that the 99 names of Allah are written in our right hand, 81 in our left hand, and 18 names are written. We told him that He has bestowed names and everything upon people. I showed him that He has written on everyone's hands, and on some people's foreheads. He showed his palm, and he opened it to look. We tried to communicate with him through gestures. With love and affection, we tried to explain to him as he is a human being, and we tried to host him here as best as we could since he was our guest," he said.
"I HOPE TO SEE HIM HONORED WITH ISLAM" Stating that he has hosted many guests before because the mosque is on the road, Kirazlı Mosque Imam Hilmi Yılmaz emphasized that the mosque is the house of Allah and that people can come here regardless of the circumstances. "Since our mosque is on the road, a tourist brother named Daniel had come before. He was also on a bicycle and even had a cat with him. They met on the road and were going together. He wanted to set up a tent behind the mosque. That day, we wanted to host him in the mosque. However, he did not want to enter the mosque. He had set up a tent in the garden of the mosque. We had also hosted that brother outside. Five or six people from Uzbekistan who set out on a bicycle tour had also stopped by here. While continuing in traffic, they came to us, and we hosted them here. They had set out again early in the morning. Sometimes, because we are on the road, our guests can come to us. All of humanity can be found here. No matter what intention, in what way, or for what purpose they come, whoever comes here should find peace and revival in the house of Allah in the mosque. The doors of our Lord's house are open to all our guests. Insha'Allah, it will be our fortune to see that brother honored with Islam. We had a beautiful bond between us. If he passes this way again, we would like to host him again," he said.