Hagia Sophia & A Mistake In Making

Why converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque is an attack on secular fabric of the world.

When the whole world is battling with a deadly pandemic that brought massive hit on the global economy, some of the countries are diverting the common man’s attention from the real problems.

It all starts with a common tactic used by many existing Govts in different countries. When they are unable to deliver the promises, in the name of “correcting history”, they tend to divert the attention from real issues.

Nepal recently started claiming the birthplace of Lord Ram, likewise in India, too, the name of cities/roads were changed in the name of “history correction”.

A similar, and hurting, step recently took by Turkish Govt where they declared, Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO declared heritage site a Mosque.

This brought criticism from all over the world. Hagia Sophia, which was a museum in Turkey and a world heritage site by UNESCO, was built in the 6th Century.

Let’s look at the history of Hagia Sophia and try to answer the question
“Why transforming Hagia Sophia into a mosque should not be applauded in a liberal world”

Hagia Sophia was first built at Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the 6th Century by Byzantine emperor Justinian I. This building was a place of worship for the Christians. A Church.

From 6th Century to the 15th Century, this building has experienced various riots, natural calamities, and parts of it got destroyed, burnt, and rebuilt afterward. It was even looted in 1204 by the Venetians and the Crusaders on the Fourth Crusade.

After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, Mehmed II had it repurposed as a mosque. Got it revamped. With the addition of a wooden minaret (on the exterior, a tower used for the summons to prayer), a great chandelier, a mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca), and a minbar (pulpit).

After the first World War when the Ottoman Empire came to an end, in 1934 Kemal Ataturk secularized the building, and in 1935 it was made into a museum.

Ataturk, who believed in “extreme secularism”, which includes, forcing people to NOT to practice their religions beliefs, believed in the idea of extreme neutrality around religion

Since then Hagia Sophia remained a museum until June 2020

When Turking President converted the building into a mosque in the name of “Correcting History”

Why is it not right?

3 reasons

1. Turkey, a Muslim dominating country, has very little Christian population (<0.02%). Converting a neutralized building into a mosque, which was built as a church once, is hurting their religious belief
2. Converting a UNESCO declared heritage site into a religious building is a downside of Turkey.
3. If Erdogan claims it was a mosque for a long time, then he should know it was a Church first before it was converted into a mosque. Hence, hurting many liberal Muslim and Christians around the globe.
4. This world needs peace, hurting someone’s religious sentiment won’t bring any peace to the nation
5. India has experienced similar incidents when in 1949 statues were placed inside a well famous mosque, which created riots and killings for decades. We don’t one another such example by the world.

Views expressed are personal
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