# Is it wrong to turn the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque? *Not halal or haram but right or wrong: a great mistake made for brownie points* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/bgsfy-umsa4/s/4/ - Date: 2020-07-16 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Why converting the Hagia Sophia to a mosque is a mistake | Mufti Abu Layth (10:35–13:13) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgsfy-UmSA4&t=635s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/bgsfy-umsa4/ **Topics:** Middle East and the wider world; Public law and governance **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Yes, he says: not as a matter of halal and haram, since Turkey may do what it wants with its property, but it is absolutely wrong and a great mistake, driven by the regime's bid to lead the Islamic world. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says converting the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque is not a matter of halal and haram, since Turkey may legally do what it wants with its property, but is absolutely wrong and a great mistake, driven in his view by the regime's wish to lead the Islamic world. **Evidence, his words at 11:53:** “converting it into a masjid is absolutely wrong it is uh it is a great mistake that is being celebrated by people” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgsfy-UmSA4&t=713s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says the question is not one of halal and haram: the Hagia Sophia is in a Muslim country and the property of the Turkish state, which from an Islamic and a legal standpoint may do with it what it wants, from opening hours to a car park. The question, he says, is whether the action is rightful, noting that a hadith teaches that you will know wrong things when you see them [?]. He then says converting it into a mosque is absolutely wrong and a great mistake, celebrated by people who, he feels, lack insight into world affairs. He says Turkey's regime is doing it to gain brownie points with other states and to become the new leader of the Islamic world, Erdogan having for some time tried to shape his identity as a new amir al-mu'minin rivalling Saudi Arabia, whose traditional standing he attributes only to the two holy sanctuaries. He points to the promotion of the Ertugrul television drama as part of this, and notes that other churches in Turkey have been turned into mosques as well. ## Sources and names cited - the reconversion of the Hagia Sophia to a mosque - Recep Tayyip Erdogan - amir al-mu'minin - report: you will know them when they are wrong (as paraphrased) [?] ## Transcript (machine tier, 10:35–13:13) [10:00] now when turkey was set out as a separate state nation state in the kind of decades that followed you see that this hagia sofia the aya sofia was turned into just a museum now the argument has come that we need to convert this back into a masjid why because it was once upon a time a masjid this is the crux of the argument that why should we turn this into a masjid because it was once upon a time [10:37] in masjid now i would say look it's not about halal haram okay because the aya sofia is in a muslim country it is the property of the state of turkey it is the property of turkey they can you know from an islamic perspective and from this statutory legal perspective they can do with it whatever they want you know they it's a listed building but if turkey decides to turn it into whatever it wants [11:16] they could you know they could say we're going to put a car park on this side we're going to do this we're going to do that we're going to you know it's up to them they could say we're going to have opening hours on this time we're going to do this the question so it's not about what is legal and illegal or what is haram and you know not it's not about that so but the question is is this a rightful action right and wrong and there are things like the hadith teaches you that you will know them when they are wrong i would say that this hagia safiya aya sofia [11:53] converting it into a masjid is absolutely wrong it is uh it is a great mistake that is being celebrated by people allahi these people i feel lack insight about this about world affairs turkey i feel is only doing this to gain brownie points the the the regime is doing this they're pushing it to gain brownie points with other states to become the new leaders of the islamic world [12:33] turkey is you know erdogan for a while has been trying to shape out his identity as the new amir al-mu'min in islam and he's trying to rival saudi arabia who have had that position traditionally i don't know why except that the haramain are there so turkey has now tried to you know first of all with this urtical drama uh promoting this everywhere and they've been doing this with many other mosques as well by the way uh in turkey churches turning them into mosques and things like this but this urtical thing that spreading this i you know i i've not watched a single [13:12] episode i can't honestly i find these things preposterous but anyway to a lot of people love the drama fair enough i haven't got anything against the drama per se but they look you have to understand something the ottoman empire was never it was nothing more than a dynasty that just happened to be muslim it is not symbolic of islam um they were you know nothing in fact the ottomans they first you know what the actual rule was they what they had concretized as the unspoken law was as soon as the next sultan comes in ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment Bgsfy-UmSA4/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/bgsfy-umsa4/s/4/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.