مسجد الحاج Şerif Ve الحاج Nefya Yeşilçimen

Rising in the historic town of Midyat in Mardin Province of southeastern Turkey, the mosque endowed by the pilgrims Serif and Nefya Yesilcimen offers the congregation a graceful house of prayer in a landscape celebrated for its stone masonry. Midyat sits on the Tur Abdin plateau, an ancient region whose history unites pre Islamic peoples, the Arab conquests of the seventh century, and the long Ottoman centuries during which towns across eastern Anatolia prospered as centres of craft, trade, and scholarship. The honoured title of Haci, carried by both the male and female donor whose names appear on the foundation inscription, indicates that each has performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the most cherished achievements in the life of a Turkish Muslim family.

The custom of naming a mosque after a husband and wife together reflects the strong tradition of joint endowment in Ottoman and post Ottoman Turkey. A household that has been blessed with sufficient means would often set aside resources during their lifetime to build a masjid, a fountain, or a small school, placing the project under the waqf system so that it would continue to serve the community long after the donors had passed on. In doing so, the couple followed in the footsteps of historic female patrons such as Hurrem Sultan, who endowed a great complex in Istanbul, and of countless lesser known women whose charity shaped the skylines of Anatolia.

Midyat is renowned for its carved pale limestone buildings, and this masjid partakes of that craft. Smooth ashlar walls enclose a square prayer hall with a small dome, tall arched windows admit generous light, and a slender pencil minaret in the Ottoman style rises above the rooftops. Inside, a marble mihrab and a carved wooden minbar greet worshippers gathering for the five prayers, while a calligrapher's roundels name the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, and the first caliphs, may God be pleased with them.

Current daily prayer times for this masjid in Midyat appear on this page, along with its location, a map, and notes that guide residents of Mardin Province, travellers on the road between Diyarbakir and Nusaybin, and visitors seeking the remarkable stonework of Tur Abdin, so that every guest may join Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha here in peaceful confidence during each season.