Sanki Yedim Camii, ' As if I have eaten' mosque

The name of this mosque is the strangest name for a mosque  I have ever heard of and I'm sure it's true of many of us.

Sanki Yedim Camii, ' As if I have eaten'  mosque

The mosque we are visiting today is located in Istanbul and it has an amazing and inspiring story behind it. The story behind it really shows that if you want to achieve something you can do it, if you really put your mind to it. It’s all about deciding on your goal, having determination to achieve it, focusing on it constantly and actively working towards it.

Its name is Sanki Yedim, 'As if I have eaten' and the story goes like this: A man, named Keçeci Hayreddin (Khair Al-Deen) Efendi lived in the district of Fatih in Istanbul, He was a poor man but his one hope in life was to build a mosque 
with his very own money. He decided to turn his dream into reality by saving as
much money as he could from his work in order to build a mosque even if it was 
a small one. So, whenever he’d walk by any market stall and the feeling to buy 
something to eat came to him, like some fruit, or meat, or candy, he’d say to
himself: "Sanki Yedim" meaning “As if I have eaten". 
Then he would take the money for the cost of the food he didn't buy and put it 
aside in a box to save it. This continued for months and years, he would only buy 
enough food to satisfy his hunger and keep his strength and no more. Meanwhile 
the money in the box increased little by little until enough money was collected, 
after 20 years, to build a small mosque.

When the people of the area came to know of the story they called the mosque 'Sanki Yedim'

The original mosque is believed to have been built in the 18th century during the Ottoman era. The mosque was severely burned during the First World War and was left derelict for a long time. In 1959, with the interest of the local people it was rebuilt in the same space but with different architecture. The mosque's interior space measures 100 square feet with enough space for 200 people to pray at the same time. It has a single minaret, painted white and nowadays it’s surrounded by homes and apartment buildings.

The mosque before it was rebuilt