The law, and origin story of Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia

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Turkey’s repeal of a 1934 decision forbidding prayers in the Hagia Sofia and converting it from mosque to museum is a vindication for religious freedoms

On Friday July 10, Turkey’s highest court has repealed a previous decision that saw the 1934 conversion of the Hagia Sophia from a mosque into a museum, and put restrictions on prayers being performed at the site.

“Early modern Turkey cracked down on the practice of faith, wearing of religious garb and expression of religion, and one of the policies they enacted was to deny its religious Muslim community a place that for served as a deeply symbolic place of prayer for nearly five centuries,” he says. “Hagia Sophia’s status is not an international matter but a matter of national sovereignty for Turkey,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier Thursday.

“Many mosques were outright destroyed or converted into Churches. By the same token, when the Spanish went to the New World, they also changed places of worship into churches. The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral is built on the ruins of an Aztec temple,” he adds.“The Church of Prophet Elija in Thessaloniki, Greece was a former mosque. In Bulgaria, the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church of Sofia was converted from a Mosque into a church.

Shortly after his conquest of Constantinople and renaming of the city to Istanbul, the Sultan performed his first Friday prayers there. Apocrypha tells a story of a young Sultan who is said to have fallen to his knees in prayers of gratitude upon entering the ancient cathedral. At the time, the Hagia Sophia was already 900 years old, and had suffered at least two fires and three earthquakes, one of which caused the entire dome to collapse. It had also been ransacked and desecrated during the Fourth Crusade by Crusaders.With Istanbul’s conquest, Hagia Sophia quickly became a cultural icon, bearing deep heritage to Turkey today.

 

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Elhamdülillah 🤲🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷

'many hail it as a win for religious freedoms' .... Are you drinking any strong drink in there Can you hear what are you say ? It;s a Disrespect for religious freedom !!!!!

It is definitely not a win for religious freedom.

Only shameless turkish state propaganda hails this move as a 'win for religious freedoms'. HagiaSophia

Almost perfect article.

We are thankfull to members of that court. Justice is served !

UNESCO .

You guys ain’t that bad, except the news like this which are direct propagandas of the regime. Pathetic

The world is islamobhoic give me a break 🤪.Truth is Muslim's will never have brotherhood with non muslim's.Infact they have internal Fighting amongst themselves Turkey is fellowing steps of it's friends Pakistan. So don't accept any love n support from other

Context is so Important 'The closing of 'Ayasofya was part of a larger anti-islam systemic policy in Turkey HagiaSophia's conversion came after, but along w/ banning Athan in Arabic, banning teaching of Quran, banning hijab in institutions' drsyedibniqbal Quote Life_Haqq

Why this hue & cry when trpresidency restored the medival era mosque which was constructed only after buying from the property owner, it was a place of worship on personal property not any cathedral, there are many churches in Europe converted form Mosques! Restore them first.

Here's a breif List of Islamic Mosque's Masjids destroyed or forcefully converted, into Christian Churches

'forbidding prayers' and 'religious freedoms' ? Unfollow.

It's good

Please support me:

Alhamdulillah! Great day for Turkey! ❤️🇹🇷Erdogan🇹🇷❤️

Radicals and so called liberals who are crying right now don't forget Mosque of Cordoba was converted by extremists into a Cathedral. HagiaSophia Turkey

Interesting historical facts .. it is stated to be owned by Mehmet the second ..

CenFBgiZ AyasofyaCamii Şükürler olsun bugüne

love from India

It is very wrong to convert a church into mosque sth the companions of the Prophet SAW would ve never done. And don't justify urselves bcoz they converted mosques into churches, we shld not stoop such a level & believe u will be acc on the day of Judgement & ths who spt such nn

dogalsosyolog 🇹🇷🇹🇷

hakkiocal 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 🇹🇷 🇹🇷 🇹🇷 🇹🇷 🇹🇷 🇹🇷 🇹🇷

Allah'u Ekbar

Elhamdülillah❤️🇹🇷

Elhamdülillah ❤️

Allahuekber 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷

Elhamdülillah ☝️

hakkiocal Elhamdülillah ♥️🇹🇷

It should have never been converted into a mosque in the first place. Atatürk's decision to convert Hagia Sofia into a museum was fair by all means. Reconversion is highly unnecessary, but at this point Erdoğan doesn't surprise me with his dictatorial agenda anymore

Poor Atatürk :(

Appreciated...

Great decision.....

I do not see it a good move. We Muslims would not have liked a Mosque to be converted to a Church.

🇹🇷😊

Love from India

The original decision of converting a Church into mosque was wrong and then Atatürk corrected this wrong by at-least converting it into a museum and now you have done that wrong again. Ottomans were successful bcz of their bravery and military might not bcz of radical Islam.

1- Mehmet fateh conquest was not the one prophecized in islam (it should happen after armageddon not before)! Erdogan should rename istanbul to constantinople to help people remember that 2- This move hurts orthodox Russia, our allies prophesized in islamic eschatology as RUM

👍🇹🇷

My latest piece for

Love from Pakistan 🇵🇰❤

Alhamdulillah 🕌🇹🇷♥️

I understand that turky want to send a message that the western plots will be defeated but turky is wrong on this!

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Turkey court ruling paves way for turning Hagia Sophia back into mosqueA court in Turkey has announced that it has ruled in favor of a government-backed proposal to turn the city's famous Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque. Just another chapter in the history of this building. Al parecer, no les gustó el programa narrado por Morgan Freeman en netflix Muy recomendable por cierto. 'La historia de Dios' en Latinoamérica. One day it will be a Cathedral again. Without those hideous minarets.
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Hagia Sophia, what happens now?It has lived life as a museum for over eighty years. Now, Istanbul’s grandest structure is open for prayer. 👍🇹🇷 Christian iconography was plastered over...preserved by accident 🤦🏻‍♂️🤣😂 A symbolic but fairly vacuous excercise
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Istanbul's Hagia Sophia set to be converted into a mosqueIstanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia will be converted from a world-famous museum back into a mosque, a Turkish court ruled Friday, in a big victory for the Islamic conservatism of Turkey's President Erdogan. Why do that? Shouldn't he be turning it back into the original Christian Church? Trump=Erdogan. Both use religious sentiments to gain votes, although they both are FAR from religious values. They are just 'merchants' of religion
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Factbox: Fifteen centuries, two faiths and a contested fate for Hagia SophiaA Turkish court is set to rule on Friday on a 1934 presidential decree converting Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a museum. Two Turkish officials have said they expect the decree to be annulled, paving the way for it to become a mosque again. Hagia Sophia Mosque will be a symbol of Conquest will be a mosque again you need to respect the decisions of Turkey Og nu mener Erdogan, at den skal være moske igen. Og han får nok sin vilje. For som han siger: ''Enten er man muslim, eller også er man ikke muslim''. Underforstået, der er ikke noget, der hedder moderate muslimer. Hey askin for help is anyone willing to donate a $1 to my sister, nephew & I, I lost both my jobs due to COVID I filed for unemployment but waitin for the benefit and we dont have any food & bills comin up if you can help we would be super grateful Venmo or Cashapp MattMartins147
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »

Changes to Istanbul's Hagia Sophia could trigger heritage review: UNESCOUNESCO must be notified of any change in the status of Istanbul's sixth-century Hagia Sophia museum and the changes may have to be reviewed by its World Heritage committee, the United Nation's cultural body said on Thursday. Built a loot who cares Turkish Govt shouldn't turn Hagia Sophia into Mosque, in reality it's belongs to Turkish Christians Community
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »