Constantinople was the capital of the eastern Roman Christian world since Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D. It was conquered by the Muslim Sultan Mehmet II on May 29, 1453. In the fall of Constantinople, tens of thousands of Christians were raped, killed, enslaved or deported.
The largest Christian church in the world for nearly a thousand years, Hagai Sophia, was converted into a mosque. Muslims covered the church’s four acres of beautiful Bible-themed gold mosaics with whitewash and Qur’an verses, and surrounded the church with Islamic minarets. The Turkish government has never offered to give ownership of the church back to Christians.
Five centuries later, in 1930, Constantinople was renamed Istanbul, derived from the Greek name “stanbul” meaning “the city.”...............Ataturk ended the religious caliphate, thus preventing Muslim religious leaders from controlling government affairs. In an effort to cut ties with the fundamentalist past, he introduced the western use of last names, replaced Arabic Islamic names with Turkish names. Ataturk abolished use of Arabic and Persian script, replacing it with the Latin alphabet. He abolished turbans and fezes (the red felt cap with a black tassel) and required men to wear western pants and suits. Ataturk banned beards on men, and even required Muslim prayer leaders to be beardless. He replaced Arabic muezzin’s call to prayer and made praying a private affair. He abolished sharia courts, and made Friday a workday, instituting the “weekend” of Saturday and Sunday.
The largest Christian church in the world for nearly a thousand years, Hagai Sophia, was converted into a mosque. Muslims covered the church’s four acres of beautiful Bible-themed gold mosaics with whitewash and Qur’an verses, and surrounded the church with Islamic minarets. The Turkish government has never offered to give ownership of the church back to Christians.
Five centuries later, in 1930, Constantinople was renamed Istanbul, derived from the Greek name “stanbul” meaning “the city.”...............Ataturk ended the religious caliphate, thus preventing Muslim religious leaders from controlling government affairs. In an effort to cut ties with the fundamentalist past, he introduced the western use of last names, replaced Arabic Islamic names with Turkish names. Ataturk abolished use of Arabic and Persian script, replacing it with the Latin alphabet. He abolished turbans and fezes (the red felt cap with a black tassel) and required men to wear western pants and suits. Ataturk banned beards on men, and even required Muslim prayer leaders to be beardless. He replaced Arabic muezzin’s call to prayer and made praying a private affair. He abolished sharia courts, and made Friday a workday, instituting the “weekend” of Saturday and Sunday.
Ataturk outlawed polygamy and elevated the status of women, appointing the first female judges, and insisting on education of girls. He abolished women wearing of scarves,veils, chadors or burqas – the full-length body dress worn by Muslim women – and requiring women to wear skirts................Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment