Jajabara in Istanbul- new update #5 the twain have met Kipling should have visited Istanbul. The Islamic and Christian cultures coexist peacefully in modern day Istanbul, though there may have been very traumatic and bloody past of intolerance and attempts of dominance over one another. Most places have Christian and Islamic names: Hagiasophia and Aya Sofaya, Sultanahmet Camii and Blue Mosque, Yerabatan Sarai and Basilica Cistern,which point to series of appropriations and dominance. It is said that when Mehmed II entered the then great city of Constantinople (the capital city of then glorious Roman Empire named after emperor Constantine who shifted the capital here) and saw the Hagia Sofia (church of wisdom) he immediately ordered that Koran be read on the premises and this place was converted to a mosque. Several other churches, except the church of holy peace (Hagia Irene), which is surprisingly just outside the gates of Topkapi palace, have been similarly converted. This is not as bad as complete destruction and decimation of structures of other religions to establish dominance of your own. In India, the destruction of temple of Somnath, probably the main structure of Konark, many others during the reign of Aurangzeb and the recent incident of Babri Masjid are extremely unfortunate, and have robbed us forever of the beauty and grandness of such structures. This is where the Ottoman sultans have to be thanked for their sagaciousness in not destroying the grand Christian structures of Romans and rather, adding on to them their own mark of Islam. The interiors of Hagia Sophia or Aya Sofaya which were first built by great Roman emperor Justinian I were enriched by Islamic style and today even though it is a museum, followers of both religions and religious nomads like me find solace in the words of Koran as well as images of Mary, Jesus and archangel Gabriel. They did not stop there and added other purely Islamic structures such as the as the Sultanahmet Camii, Sulemaniye Camii (by Suleyman the Magnificent) and several others which became as much a part of the Ottoman/ Turkish life as the Obelix and Cisterns.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 04:36:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015