The first Friday prayer after 1934 ended in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
The prayer was attended by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who recited the first Surah from the Koran "al-Fatiha" before the service. It was broadcast on large screens set up in the square. The faithful gathered there greeted the Turkish leader with shouts of "Allahu Akbar".
"Accept, Allah, the efforts of all, first of all our President, as a gift that Hagia Sophia has become a mosque. We all together rejoice in this transformation," said the head of the Department of religious Affairs of Turkey Ali Erbas, who led the service.
Turkish authorities have taken increased security measures in connection with the opening ceremony of Hagia Sophia as a mosque. About 17 thousand police officers were involved, special forces were on duty on the roofs of nearby buildings, and several helicopters were barraged over the area of Hagia Sofia.
On July 10, the Supreme administrative court of Turkey annulled the decision of 1934 to turn Hagia Sophia into a Museum. Immediately after that, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that he had signed a decree to turn the Cathedral into a mosque and start Muslim services there.
Hagia Sophia was founded by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and opened on December 27, 537. The Cathedral was the largest Church in the Christian world for about a thousand years. After the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans and the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Cathedral was converted into a mosque, but since 1934, the building became a Museum by decree of the founder of the modern Turkish state Kemal Ataturk and was included in the UNESCO world heritage list.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from RIA Novosti