Thousands gathered at Hagia Sophia for the first Friday Prayers when the former museum was opened as a Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Many wore masks and others chin straps in the blazing heat. Thousands of police were scattered among the shoulder to shoulder crowd to maintain the peace. People crowded up against police barricades hoping to get close to the mosque.
The building was a Christian Byzantine cathedral for 900 years before being seized by Ottoman conquerors and serving as a mosque until 1934. Inside are historic Christian mosaics on the walls and domed ceilings. In 1934 the building became a museum and remained so until just last month when a Turkish court annulled Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan immediately turned it back into a mosque. He was front and center at the July 24, 2020 first prayers. Erdogan, in power for 17 years, may have converted the museum into a Mosque to placate his conservative base whose support has eroding due to economic despair and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inside, large scaffolding was erected in the middle of the structure and drapery hid the Christian mosaics. The conversion triggered fierce criticism from Christian church leaders, who said that exclusively Muslim worship risked deepening religious divisions. Turkey says the site will remain open for visitors and its Christian artworks will be protected.
I was shocked at how close people packed together to worship. Two hours before prayers started, areas outside the building were filled to capacity and the authorities had to deny entry over concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
Turkey saw its highest spike in new cases on April 11, 2020. To date the country has had 5,813 COVID-19 related deaths. Since the opening of Hagia Sophia as a mosque, Covid-19 has spread fast in major Turkish cities according to Health Ministry data. Over the past few weeks, health authorities have been warning that citizens are acting as if the threat has disappeared, and daily new cases surpassed 1,000 for the first time in about a month on Tuesday August 4, 2020.
The government is discussing restrictions on movement or limiting social interaction in certain districts. Plans are not finalized. Police are conducting mass inspections looking to catch violations of rules put in place to stem the COVID-19 outbreak. Anyone found not wearing protective masks and maintaining a social distance of at least 1.5 meters (5 feet) were warned and fined. The strict measures are a consequence of concerns over a new surge in cases while some people are ditching masks and overcrowded has become common. An army of 250,000 inspectors found people conveniently tucking masks into their handbags or pockets, only to rush to wear them when seeing uniforms. Some claimed they would not be recognized while wearing a mask which is ironic since so many Muslim women cover their faces with a niqāb. A few women did worship at the opening prayers at Hagia Sophia from a hallway.
Turkey was one of the first countries to suffer in the first months of the pandemic and they do not want to experience a second wave. The ministry warned it would not accept any violations from anyone who didn’t wear a mask and maintain social distancing at gatherings such as weddings or circumcision ceremonies. Those who refused would face fines and temporary closures.