July 17, 2020
Western reaction to Hagia Sophia exposes hypocrisy on ‘religious tolerance’
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
There has been a sharp reaction to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to convert the Hagia Sophia into mosque.
The Spectator of UK said: Will the Hagia Sophia be a wake-up call to a West that has so far tolerated far too many transgressions?
The Telegraph said making the Hagia Sophia a mosque is a political slap in the face for the West and it is a blow to the foundations of Turkey’s alignment with the West.
The Globe and Mail said: What we do know is that the world is a slightly darker and less gentle place than it was a week ago.
Cameron Hilditch of the National Review says Hagia Sophia should either be returned to its status as a museum or remanded into the care of the Greek Orthodox Church, for whose liturgy and worship it was purpose-built so many centuries ago. Otherwise all economic, military, or diplomatic favors from the Western world should be stopped to Turkey.
Greece condemns Turkey's decision to convert Hagia Sophia into mosque
Greece condemned a decision by Turkey to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque, saying it would have repercussions not only on relations between the two countries, but on Turkey’s ties with the European Union.
“Greece condemns in the most intense manner the decision of Turkey to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. This is a choice which offends all those who also recognize the monument as a World Heritage Site. And of course it does not only affect relations between Turkey and Greece, but its relations with the European Union,” Mitsotakis’s office said in a written statement.
Former Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis and Mitsotakis’s sister tweeted that Erdogan had “crossed the Rubicon” with its decision, effectively moving itself way from the Western world.
Ottoman remains in Greece: Ruined, neglected, misused
Tellingly, even though Greece has criticized Turkey for reopening Istanbul’s historic Hagia Sophia as a mosque, the situation of Ottoman-era monuments in Greece tells a different story, with most of them neglected, ruined, or used for purposes, which completely disregard their history, Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak of the Turkish newspaper Yenisafak wrote Wednesday.
Some mosques were converted into churches with renovations, while others were used as bars or movie theaters for “adult” films. It is estimated that there are over 10,000 artifacts and monuments from Turkish-Islamic architecture in Greece.
While intense criticisms were made from Greece in opening Hagia Sophia for worship, the situation of Turkish-Islamic works in the country draw attention, Cakmak said adding:
Built in 1468 in Thessaloniki, Hamza Bey Mosque was used as a place of worship for a while after Greece gained its independence. In the following years, the minaret of the mosque, made of cut stone, was destroyed, the pencil works in the dome and the writing plates were deleted, while the interlocking wooden pulpit inside was also destroyed. The mosque, owned by the National Bank of Greece in 1927, was later on sold to a private person, divided into a shop and a cinema and used for displaying adult movies until the 80s.
The Faik Pasha Mosque in the city of Narda (Arta) in the Ioannina region was turned into a church after the population exchange between Turkey and Greece in 1923. It is known that the mosque, which was later abandoned, was used as a bar-pavilion in the 1970s.
On the other hand, mosques and historical buildings in many important cities, including the capital Athens, Ioannina, Giannitsa, Crete, Larisa, and Kavala continue to share the same fate.
In Athens, where there is no official mosque open for worship, the oldest mosque -- Fethiye Mosque -- was used for many different purposes such as military prison and warehouse after the end of Ottoman administration in the city.
The mosque -- located in the Roman Agora on the outskirts of the city's Acropolis within the archaeological area -- is believed to be built during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II and it was used as a storehouse for historical artifacts until 2010. Fethiye Mosque is now used as an exhibition hall since the restoration works ended in 2017.
The Cizderiye Mosque, located a few hundred meters from the Fethiye Mosque, is in the Monastiraki Square -- one of the touristic places of the city. The mosque is kept closed for most of the year, serving as a ceramics museum for visitors from time to time.
There are no traces of buildings such as Yeni Mosque, Domed Mosque, Ic Kale Mosque, Huseyin Efendi Dervish Lodge, and Haci Ali Bath, which are among the Turkish-Islamic works in Athens and registered in the Ottoman archives as well as yearbooks.
Five Mosques that Converted into Church in Spain
Wikipedia enumerates at least 16 mosques in Spain which were converted into churches. Here is detail of the five mosques that were converted into churches in different periods. All mosques were built during the Muslim the rule and turned into the church after the defeat of Muslims. Tellingly, several minarets were converted into bell towers for church.
1. The Grand Masjid of Córdoba is considered a great masterpiece from both side Muslims and Christians. It was built between 784 and 987 on a site of a Visigothic church in the rule of Al-Andalus in Córdoba. After the defeat of Córdoba by Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236, it was turned into Catholic Church.
2. Mosque of Cristo de la Luz was the former Masjid in Toledo, Spain. Built in 999, it was the only worship place for Muslim in this city. It was converted into the church in 1186 after the city fell to Christians.
3. The Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf ordered the construction of a new grand mosque for the city in 1172 in Seville that was completed in 1198. Shortly after Seville's conquest by Ferdinand III in 1248, it was converted into the city's cathedral. Its minaret was converted into the bell tower.
4. Almonaster Mosque or Almonaster la Real is one of the surviving Spanish rural Masjid. It was built on the site from a Visigothic basilica from the 5th century. In the 13th century, it became a church, Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion.
5. Alcazar Of Jerez De La Frontera mosque is a part of the former Moorish fortress in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, Spain. After the Christian re-conquest of Alcazar of Jerez de la Frontera in the middle of the 13th century, this mosque was turned into the church and its minaret into a bell tower.
Israel converts historical mosque into a bar and events hall
The Israeli municipality in Safed has turned Al-Ahmar Mosque into a bar and events hall, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on April 11, 2019.
As one of the most historical mosques in the Arab city, which was occupied by the Jewish gangs in 1948, the building was first turned into a Jewish school, then into a centre for Likud’s elections campaigns and then into a clothes warehouse before finally being converted into a nightclub.
The London-based newspaper reported that the mosque was turned to a bar and wedding hall by an firm affiliated to the Israeli municipality. Its name was changed from Al-Ahmar Mosque to Khan Al-Ahmar.
Khair Tabari, secretary of Safed and Tiberias Islamic endowment, said that he had been waiting for the Nazareth court to take a decision regarding a complaint he filed requesting the evacuation of the mosque and returning it to the endowment.
Israelis to turn historic mosque into museum
The Israeli authorities in Tiberias have broken into the historic Al-Bahr Mosque in order to start turning it into a museum, Al-Resalah reported in February 2019.
According to the Middle East Monitor, Israel has demolished hundreds of Palestinian mosques, cemeteries and other religious sites since the state’s creation in 1948. Dozens have been turned into bars and night clubs in Jaffa, Lod, Al-Ramla, Ashkelon and other cities with no regard for their religious significance.
Al-Bahr (“The Sea”) Mosque was built in 1743 by the Muslim ruler of Tiberias, Al-Zaher Omar. It is located on the shore of Lake Tiberias, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Since the Israeli occupation of Palestine in 1948, the mosque has been abandoned and no Muslims have been allowed to enter it. Having been turned into a bar, an agreement was reached in 2000 between the Tiberias municipality and the Palestinian citizens of Israel, including Arab parliamentarians. However, it was abandoned again and Palestinians are not allowed to enter even to clean it.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America (www.journalofamerica.net) Email asghazali2011 (@) gmail.com
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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