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Gujarat
governor seeks report on inflammatory posters |
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Gaza
facing a humanitarian disaster: UN expert |
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Majority
of Kashmiris against joining Pakistan |
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Six
injured in clash between two groups |
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Sibal,
Khurshid differ over minority status to Jamia Milia Islamia |
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AMU to
discuss its Special Centres with National Muslim leaders |
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Demand
for Muslim graveyard in Margao remains buried in files |
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Nepal
averts crisis but chaos remains |
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 Train
mishap toll rises to 98, may go further up:
The toll in the
Mumbai-bound express train derailment by Maoists rose to ....
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Maoists attack Mumbai bound train, 68 people
killed |
Muslims in India don’t vote effectively, so are the Muslims in
United States:
One of the many reasons
behind the sufferings
.....
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Full
Country of Immigrants, United States is a WORLD in itself
World not
a paradise like Washington: Courtesy, US Foreign Policy |
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 Majority
of Kashmiris against joining Pakistan:
Only 2% of residents of
Kashmir want to join Pakistan while less than half of them favor
independence ....
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 Gaza
facing a humanitarian disaster: UN expert:
Gaza is facing a
humanitarian disaster, the spokesman for UN Relief and Works Agency
....
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Demand
for Muslim graveyard in Margao remains buried in files:
Decade-long demand for an appropriate
burial ground in Margao by the Muslim community remains ....
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 Sibal,
Khurshid differ over minority status to Jamia Milia Islamia:
The Ministries of minority affairs and HRD
are at loggerheads over ....
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After
Class 12, Gulf students excel in CBSE Class 10 exams too:
Students from the Gulf region have outperformed their India
counterparts in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
exams ....
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 Israeli
warnings fail to stop Gaza ‘Freedom Flotilla’:
Organizers of an
eight—ship flotilla said on Friday they continued to head ....
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 Critics
of Iran should get rid of own nukes: Turkish PM:
Nations criticizing an
Iranian nuclear fuel-swap deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey should
eliminate ....
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World's
first: Brit scientist infects himself with computer virus:
Dr Mark Gasson, a
cybernetics expert at the University of Reading, has become the
first human to be infected with ....
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 Decks
cleared for construction of a mosque near ground zero:
After hours of
contentious public comment, a New York City community board voted
late ....
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 Muslims
should opt for civil services as mission: Shah Faisal:
Muslim candidates should
not opt for civil services as a job, rather a mission, said Shah
....
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 Jasmine
Bano tops Tamil Nadu SSC Board Exams:
A Muslim girl Jasmin Bano, daughter of Shaikh Dawood
has created history and brought a pleasant ....
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 Family
video shows suspect at wedding during Pune Blast:
In yet another embarrassing development for the Maharashtra ATS, family of Abdul Samad
....
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 IIT-JEE
results out, Rahmani-30 struggles at 33%:
Trying hard to repeat last year’s success, Rahmani-30
coaching centre for Muslim IIT aspirants has ....
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 Delhi
doctors save Pakistani boy with stem cell transplant:
Delhi doctors proved to be saviours
for a one-year-old boy from Pakistan who was suffering ....
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 Pune
Blast case:
Is Maharashtra ATS lying about Abdus Samad?:
Maharashtra's Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS)
may have jumped the gun by informing the Centre ....
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 Congress
perfidy against Muslims over Awkaf?:
Reports are coming in that while the Prime Minster Manmohan
Singh had solemnly assured a visiting Muslim ....
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Istanbul:
Their impressive minarets and domes dominate the skyline of Istanbul
and no tour to the ancient Turkish city is complete without a visit
to its two most important landmarks - the Hagia Sophia and the Blue
Mosque.
The Hagia Sophia, built in the 6th century, functioned as a church
for more than 900 years, till the Ottoman Turks converted it into a
mosque in the 15th century and it remained so for almost 500 years.
It was in 1935 that the farsighted first Turkish president and
founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ordered the Hagia Sophia to be converted into a museum.
After the building was transformed into a museum, prayers were no
longer allowed inside. The layers of plaster covering the mosaic
pictures of Christ and Virgin Mary on the ceilings of the gallery,
applied during the Ottoman rule, were removed in many places to show
the pictures and the massive building was thrown open to the public.
The cathedral, built by Emperor Justinian I, is one of the finest
examples of Byzantine architecture. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks
conquered Constantinople, what is modern-day Istanbul, and converted
it into a mosque, calling it the Ayasofya.
“The Ottoman rulers did not demolish anything inside the structure,
they had the greatest respect for the Christian faith. They only
carefully plastered over the Christian emblems inside the Hagia
Sophia,” tour guide Derya Kutukcu told this visiting IANS
correspondent.
The Ottomans added the three important symbols of Islam in the
building - the mihrab, or a niche in the wall pointing to the
direction of Mecca; the mimbar or pulpit for the cleric; and the
minaret for the azan, as well as huge discs with inscriptions in
praise of Allah on it.
The Turks after taking over the building, added huge buttresses to
it to strengthen the structure and the minarets to give it the
element of a mosque.
“Look carefully at the dome. There is no steel holding the stone
pieces together,” Derya said. One cannot help but marvel at the feat
of the engineers who created the masterpiece so many hundreds of
years ago.
The dome, if you stare at it from the groundfloor, looks perfectly
formed but it is not, said Derya. It is 31.7 metres in diameter on
one side and 31.4 metres on the other. “It is not a perfect circle,”
she said.
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul’s famous landmark, is just next door to
the Hagia Sophia.
Built by Ottoman emperor Sultan Ahmed I during 1609-1616, it is the
first mosque to have six minarets. The Blue Mosque gets its name
from the blue Iznik tiles adorning its interior walls.
The mosque, which is a functional mosque, is open to tourists,
barring an area in the central hall which is kept for offering
prayers.
Since footwear is not allowed inside, the authorities have provided
plastic packets for tourists to wrap their footwear in while walking
inside the main hall.
The huge central dome has four quarter domes on four sides. It has
two floors, with the second floor for the women to sit and pray.
Since many of the precious Iznik tiles, which are made of quartz,
were stolen in the early years, guards stand all along the main hall
and don’t allow anyone to go near the walls.
“Please, please…,” they politely say and wave their hands to
indicate to tourists to keep away from the wall.
There are 21,043 pieces of square Iznik tiles, each side measuring
23.5 cm, plastered on the walls, according to Derya.
The mosque also has a madrassa, which functioned like a university
for the Ottomans, and a fountain for ablutions before the prayers.
Clerics with very melodious voices sing the azan prayers, which
blare out from the speakers on the minarets.
The city boasts of another beautiful mosque, the 16th century
Suleiman Mosque built by Ottoman rule Suleiman the Magnificent. It
is located near Istanbul University and the city’s well-known Grand
Bazar.
(Ranjana Narayan
can be contacted at ranjana.n@ians.in)
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