a Sufi meditation/prayer rug , 4.3 x 3ft. (131 x 91 cm.) around 1900. sw Anatolia. The red ground depicts one central column of wisdom, containing the five aspects of Islam: faith, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage, symbolised here as five cross-shaped symbols within one single column. Attractive meandering border design with double-headed eagles. The Sufis contemplate the mystical and omnipresent nature of God and hence their prayer rugs are not necessarily directed towards Mecca. Instead the column of wisdom radiates out in all sides. Because of these kind of controversial ideas, Sufi orders and Sufi practices were banned in Turkey in 1925,