Hagia Sophia was for nearly a thousand years, from the early sixth century to May 29, 1453, the grandest, foremost cathedral in all of Christendom. When Islamic jihadis conquered Constantinople, Mehmet II, known to history as the Conqueror of the city, on that very day had the great church proclaimed a mosque. It remained a mosque for nearly 500 years, until the secular Turkish regime made it a museum. Erdogan has been rolling back Turkish secularism, and wants very much to convert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque again. This would be a slap in the face to Orthodox Christians and all Christians, but what does Erdogan care about that?
“Islamic clergy call for prayer at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople to appease the coronavirus,” Orthodox Times, May 4, 2020:
The chairman of the Religious and Foundation Employees’ Union (Diyanet Bir-Sen), Hasan Türüt, has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow a Muslim prayer to be performed in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, following the lifting of the ban due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Turkish media reports, Türüt said that the first Friday after the coronavirus pandemic the Muslim prayer should be performed in Hagia Sophia, as Mehmed the Conqueror did on the first Friday after the Fall of Constantinople.
“Hagia Sophia is the means to bring about the resurrection of the world. We must all show together – with the first prayer in Hagia Sophia – that Turkey is not the old Turkey,” highlighted Bir-Sen Chairman, saying that nothing would be the same in the post-coronavirus world….
“When Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453, the first Friday after the Fall he prayed in Hagia Sophia, turning it into a mosque after 916 years. Mehmed II, according to some Ottoman writings, is said to have said:
‘May the curse of Allah, the angels and all human beings be upon anyone who changes even one of the conditions governing this foundation!’ May they be in a constant and endless struggle! May no one will be found to look them in the face or ask Allah to forgive them!” “Let us no longer suffer the curse of Allah and our ancestor Mehmed. It is necessary for the honorable president of our country and his competent officials, who are trying to magnify Muslim Turkey and Islam, to take these seriously,” Türüt concluded…
Kuffar says
Over 500 years of occupation and oppression is enough. Free Constantinople.
shosh says
Catholicism and Islam are fingers on the same hand
gravenimage says
What claptrap. Where are Catholics oppressing, enslaving, and murdering non-Catholics as Muslims do non-Muslims?
In fact, Catholics fought against Islam for centuries. You would not be free today if they had not.
Clive Delmonte says
Let’s not forget how nasty the Shia are to the Sunni, and vice versa. Each Muslim sect hates the other as much as they hate anyone else !
Jewcat says
Tosh, Shosh.
gravenimage says
True, Clive.
Gray says
Would the present Pope agree with shosh? Perhaps he might, going from the present Pope’s apparently unbounded admiration and respect for Islam. (The great and saintly Pope Benedict is now but a distant memory, sadly). And certainly the inter-Faith movements in most of the mainstream Churches (including the Catholic Church) would at least be very sympathetic to shosh’s views, as their members babble incoherently about ‘the three Abrahamic Faiths,’ and how ‘each Faith is climbing the same mountain, just by a different route.’ What are any of the mainstream Churches doing to protect the persecuted Christian Churches in Muslim lands? From what I see – Nothing! It’s all being left to Christian organisations like the Barnabas Fund. However I’ve heard it said that, if the Christian Churches really are suffering persecution in Muslim majority countries, well that’s all the local Christian Churches fault, for not working harder at inter-Faith initiatives with the Muslims. End result: There will soon be no Christian presence left at all, in so many of the countries where the Christian Church began.
Giacomo Latta says
Not really, although there is no shortage of those who post at this website to inform us all how much Christianity is to Islam, therefore giving weight to the latter as a religion. If any of us were to intercept a passer-by and quote even the mildest parts of the koran to him or her then ask whether they thought this ”religion” (without identifying it) should really qualify as a religion I would bet that at least 70% would reject the premise that it should, half because they know it as Islam and the other half because they find it disgusting. And yet we have visitors to this site who give Islam a status it does not deserves, not because they are closet muslims but because they perceive this website as a useful forum for Christian proselytizing. And should Islam get a boost as a consequence, it does not seem to bother them.
Giacomo Latta says
correction: how much Christianity s/b how much superior Christianity
Chrissie says
@Shosh: you would not be able to defend your claim in a debate/conversation.
Myrrdin Wyllt says
You are in fact right. The Orthodox were ignored 3 times by the Catholics when they asked for help against the Saracens. The Catholic Church only started the Crusades when they thought the Byzantines were weak enough, so they could take the Levant for themselves. After the Crusades the Ottomans and the Catholic Clergy used to trade slaves from Europe. It was the Orthodox, not the Catholics, who held back the Ottomans until the Renaissance.
gravenimage says
The idea that the Crusades were actually waged against the Byzantines is mistaken at best.
Betty Tigers says
An acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide would give Turkey more credence!
gravenimage says
They want to lie to the Infidels until they gain full power–then they will brag about this and threaten us with this same.
Kuffar says
500 years of oppression and occupation is enough. Free Constantinople
GreekEmpress says
+1
My ancestors lived in Constantinople for centuries and worshipped there. I see red every time I see a story like this. It is not a mosque! As far as I’m concerned, it will always be a Christian cathedral that was seized by a bunch of Muslim invaders. It is still a church and the Turks are just squatters—
John Spartan says
Bravo…. Christians built one of the world’s greatest wonders in Constantinople when the turks were still drinking horse milk from the tap. The Turks create nothing except death, theft, misery, rape, lies, etc.
Quazgaa says
Uh, John, I don’t think that was a tap..
Honest Ali says
“He called for a prayer to Allah in the Hagia Sophia to appease evil…” That sums it up… they pray to appease their evil god.
But seriously, this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. We are in for a very long, hard fight. Never submit.
DHazard says
Architectural masterpiece or booty? Big booty.
gravenimage says
Turkey: Religious union top dog calls for prayer at the Hagia Sophia to show “that Turkey is not the old Turkey”
…………………..
Actually, what these thugs want *is* the old Turkey–the depraved Ottoman Empire, that is.
Paul Wheeler says
It’s not clear why JihadWatch spends time talking about Hagia Sophia.
It’s Muslim now, the result of the law of conquest. May 29, 1435 was the end of the Eastern Empire and Christian claims to Asia Minor.
Repeated moaning about it it pointless. Absent armed conquest or the sudden spontaneous conversion to Orthodox Christianity by the best of peoples, Hagia Sophia is either a museum or masjid.
End of story.
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Gray says
Those who ignore the lessons of History are condemned to re-live it. Are we allowed to moan if (when?) Notre Dame Cathedral and Westminster Abbey are both converted into mosques too? It seems no secret that both houses of Christian worship are also on the Muslim wish list.
Brian Hoff says
Turkey is 99 percent Muslim. There is no mass movernment In support of any crusade s .
gravenimage says
Turkey is 99% Muslims because they slaughtered up to two million Christians between 1895 and 1923. Does “Brian Hoff”–really, “DefenderofIslam”–have any problem with that? OF course not.
Notice that our mentioning the violence of Muslims is supposed to be “crusade s .”–in other words, our citing Islamic violence is somehow violent, but Islamic violence is not violent itself. This is how Muslims “think”.
gravenimage says
Paul Wheeler wrote:
It’s not clear why JihadWatch spends time talking about Hagia Sophia.
It’s Muslim now, the result of the law of conquest. May 29, 1435 was the end of the Eastern Empire and Christian claims to Asia Minor.
Repeated moaning about it it pointless.
……………..
Actually, Muslims threaten us with the same all the time. Demanding that we ignore this is very strange–but I suppose should not surprise.
sidney penny says
Historically Muslims did not built much but preferred to take over existing churches and temples.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyanvapi_Mosque
The mosque was built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1669 CE, after destroying a Hindu temple.[1][2] The remnants of the Hindu temple can be seen on the walls of the Gyanvapi mosque.The remains of the erstwhile temple can also be seen in the foundation, the columns and at the rear part of the mosque.[
Shastra says
+1
gravenimage says
Yes–this is *very* common with Islam.
Ludicrously, I had a book as a child that described Hagia Sophia as the greatest example of Islamic architecture–apparently not realizing that it was anything but.
Ronald Lorette says
Both Islam and Catholicism have the same basic system of Salvation,and are kept ignorant of God,s Salvation of Grace Alone,Ephesians 2:8,9. This has people depending on works ,under the supervision of Priests or Imams,till death us do part.Most practicing Catholics have a great sub-conscious fear of Catholic authority,as we were told as children that it was a mortal Sin to speak out in any way against a catholic authority,from priests to pope.When catholic families find out that they have a pedophile priest molesting one of their children,they are never told to call police. After all sins against children can be absolved by magic powers of priest,and be sure to be thankful for that forgiveness you just received form the Pedophile Priest. Both systems operate using great fear for non compliance.
gravenimage says
Uh huh. Not only is this a skewing of Catholicism, but does not take into account that “good works” in Islam largely involve murdering unbelievers.
Betty Tigers says
Do you think a national day of shame for every country would be positive?
The Germans could fly their flag with a star of David in the middle.
The British could fly their flag with the Eire flag too,(remembering the potato famine it helped cause)
Turkey should acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
And various middle Eastern countries, ancient (and modern) slavery!
and so on!
Alexandra Thrift says
Potato famine was caused by a disease called blight not by the British.
gravenimage says
Surely you jest. There is no personal sense of guilt in Islam.
Chrissie says
The Christians of Europe need to stand up and ask through the EU to consider the Hagia Sophia a Christian monument, as it was built by Christians in a land that was part of the Byzantine Empire for 1000 years. A monument is not just any building! Never trust the Turks!
Reziac says
Time to take back Constantinople.
And for that matter, all of Anatolia.