By Ivan Watson, NPR

"I think I don't know of any other person—a woman—who has designed a mosque before," Fadillioglu says. Tall and fashionably dressed, with long blond hair, Fadillioglu is better known in Turkey as a figure from the country's cocktail-sipping jet set. She made a career decorating restaurants, boutique hotels and homes for the very wealthy.

Minarets strive to reach the skyIn the mosque, Fadillioglu is putting a contemporary spin on religious art from the Ottoman era.

The iron on the mosque's enormous iron and glass facade was hand-crafted by specialists in Istanbul, Fadillioglu says. "The glass etching has got different layers of gilding on it, which is from verses of the Koran," she says. "We wanted people to feel more left alone with God in this place, rather then being distracted by too much ornamentation. I think that makes it more contemporary at the same time"

Fadillioglu also brought in other female artists to help her on the project.

On one particular day, beneath the mosque's 130-foot diameter dome, Nahide Buyukkaymakci instructs a worker on how to hang dozens of blown-glass rain drops from an asymmetrical bronze and Plexiglas chandelier.
The glass drops are inspired by a prayer that says Allah's light should fall on you like rain, Buyukkaymakci explains.

Sakirin Mosque, detail"Even though I'm not really a practicing Muslim, this is a very special project for me, because it's the first mosque to be designed by women," she says.

Professor Ali Kose studies the psychology of religion at Marmara University's School of Theology.

"Traditionally, the mosque is thought to be a place for men only," Kose says. But he says women played a much greater public role in mosques in the days of the Prophet Muhammad. That role, he says, deteriorated over time.

"Islamic societies, by time, have become male dominant societies," Kose says, "and this affected every part of life, and also affected the religion as well."

'More Room For Us To Pray'

Istanbul's Mihrimah Sultan Mosque was built in 1547 in honor of a daughter of the sultan. Muslim women are allowed to attend prayers here in specially designated women's sections.

They are ushered with their children to a small, curtained-off area in the back of the mosque, while the men kneel in front on a vast carpet enjoying an unobstructed view of the mosque's beautiful stained glass windows.

After prayers, a woman named Deniz Urash and her mother complain that the women's section is too small and crowded.

"It would be nice if they made more room for us to pray," Urash says.

Fadillioglu says in many Turkish mosques, the women's sections have suffered from neglect.

"I have been to some mosques of that sort, and that disturbed me," Fadillioglu says. "So, I prefer the women to use the mosque as much as the man if they want to, of course, and the same way."

As workmen paint and sand this new place of worship, Fadillioglu vows to make the second-floor balcony - where the women will one day pray - every bit as beautiful as the men's part of the mosque.

Fadillioglu told BBC reporter Dorian Jones that the chance to be the first woman in Turkey to be in charge of building a mosque was the opportunity of a lifetime. "When I was offered this project I cried," she said.

The mosque was commissioned by a wealthy Arab Turkish family, as a memorial to their mother.
"I think what is exciting is that I am a woman," she said.

"Especially at a time when so much is being discussed wrongly of Islam not allowing women to have equal rights. The fact that a woman can build a mosque disproves this."

She believes being a woman brings a different insight to building a mosque.

"I care more about the aesthetical side, I care more about the public, I try to give a place to be really left with God, rather than creating a symbol."

Despite Turkey's strictly secular status, much of the country remains religiously conservative, and the Sakirin Mosque is being built in one of the most religious parts of Istanbul.

Ms Fadillioglu admits she was expecting problems, but was pleasantly surprised. "I did not face any problems whatsoever. I was more scared myself, I had the prejudice myself, that I would have problems. That's why I took very cautious steps and we worked as a team."

Ironically, she said she faced more problems from staunchly secular friends. "People with Western values, they kept on asking me why I was building a mosque. People had all these confusions, that I was somehow selling out my secular ideals."

Fusion of influences

The aim of the Sakirin Mosque - combining the influences of the past and present, and East and West - has been a difficult balancing act, Ms Fadillioglu concedes.

"We worked here with a lot of Islamic craftsmen, contemporary craftsmen, with very different views on life, and all of them worked very well together. That co-ordination may be more difficult to achieve with a masculine figure. With a feminine figure it is more easily handled, I think."

The mosque construction comes as Turkey remains deeply divided over the role of religion within society. In July the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) narrowly escaped being shut down. It was accused of seeking to overthrow the secular state, and the country's constitutional court handed down a fine and a severe warning.

An opinion poll released in September 2009 found that 68% of the country believes there is a conflict over religion and secularism. In such an environment Ms. Fadillioglu hopes the mosque will become a symbol of unity.

"There are big discussions on whether Western values are to be integrated with Islamic values, or whether two different communities will remain divided.

"I think this mosque has all the Western and Eastern values nicely blended. We wanted to go with the flow of Islam, while at the same time creating something contemporary."

Sources: Ivan Watson, NPR; Dorian Jones, BBC

Large dome of the new Sarkirin Mosque in Istanbul

Interior courtyard of Sakirin Mosque

Detail, Sakirin Mosque

Detail, interior, Sakirin Mosque

Interior, Sakirin Mosque