A Bastille Gone

The Sea of Maramara of Istanbul divides the Asian plateau from Europe. The roman king, Flavius Valerius Constantinus or ‘Constantine the Great’ was the first of the Roman Caesar who converted his faith and adopted Christianity. His mother, Helena, [in]famous for the spread of Christianity worldwide after she discovered a crucifix from a cave while on her Pilgrimage Tour to Bethlehem. [Today, the Church of Nativity stands at the place.]

Anyways, Constantinus commissioned to create Sophia Hagia—a Greek Orthodox church near the small Pontic shore surrounded by the waves of Bosporus like a maiden’s necklace. The Orthodox Church stands on the place where once lies a temple dedicated to Aphrodite. According to a Greek chronicler, ‘the gilded roof of the church flushed with sunlight such brilliance that it seemed gold flows from the dome in a molten stream’. Precious metals were carved into its four arched joists. A silver Holy table with its border glided in gold was put as the Altar. Sophia Hagia was a sanctuary to look for, but in 532, the construction gutted in a fire.

The last Roman king, Justinian, decided to reconstruct the church—more elaborately, and more extravagantly. On the day of the inauguration, Justinian riding on his state chariot driven by four horses came for the ceremony. He sacrificed nearly thousands of oxen, six-thousand sheep, hundreds of stags and innumerable of birds of different species before inaugurating. Some thirty-thousand people attend the ceremony. A hearty meal was laid for the poor and needy.

Extending his arms towards heaven, Justinian cried, “Glory to God, who has deemed me worthy of fulfilling such a work. O, Solomon! I have surpassed thee…” With time, it all waned-off.

Sultan Mohammed II, after he triumphed over Constantipole in 1453 visit the monument. He dismounts from his horse, bent down, scooped a handful of dust and pour over his turbaned head before entering the church. A few priests appear from the secret passage behind the screen, kneeled before the Sultan seeking mercy. The Sultan [pretending to be benevolent] set the parishioners free as he walks through the hallway in his high military boots.

The cavernous interior was mixed with blue tiles and the arched hallway to amalgam the Turkic and Roman architecture. The polished Anatolian marble floor compliments to the wooden doors or the walls made of Syrian bricks and other parts of Eastern Africa. With his eyes fixated to the wooden ceiling extravagantly lighted with sunlight, the Sultan ordered, “…the church be converted into a mosque’. An ulema, climb into the ambo and call-out the azaan.

The 269-feet church, now converted, to a mosque by king’s order. Haga Sophia was stripped off all its Christian ornamentation. Massive circular discs with Quranic verses inscribed affixed to its pillars. The pulpit was taken down. A sultan’s box was placed at the centre. A mihrab facing Mecca was installed to one part of the church. On Friday of the first week, the people of the city were called for prayer. No bell was rung. A muezzin cried aloud the glory of Allah and Muhammad—the azaan.

But, why am I narrating all these in 2020? Erdogan, President of Turkey, a few days back signed a decree annulling the status of Sophia Hagia as a museum and revert it to a mosque. Defending his decision, the President stressed that the country had exercised its sovereign right. The Pope from the Vatican along with others from the Papal organisations, express their condemnation, angst, and grief. But, the 1500-year-old Christian bastille is now gone.

And, then some who will cry, ‘Islamophobia’. Sigh!

The Buck Stops when the Cash Counter Stops Ringing

It is more than a month or two that a certain dumbass suddenly realises that he knows a little. My opinion, however, remains contradicting—‘He knows nothing.’ Anyhow, at a wee-hour, the person called me to inquire about ‘Ughyurs’. What?

‘Ughuyus!

We-gears…! Arre, those Muslims who are in Chinese concentration camps…how do you call them?’

‘Uighurs’, I replied.

‘Haan, haan…wohi…what is the fuss about them?/

‘What is the fuss?’

‘Arre bats na! I was hearing about them on the television for a while; some concentration camp, human surveillance, forced eating pork…’

‘The television people can say it better.’ I retorted. ‘Moreover, YouTube got lots of videos on it; I am no expert.’

[Silence for a while] ‘Ok, I thought you might be knowing or having information about the Uighurs so, I ask you because I did not understand all that is written or talked.’

So, you looking for a concise, abridged version?’ I quipped.

‘Abri…what?’

‘I mean a shorter version.’ The dumbass does not have a command over vocabulary too.

Not exactly. I am looking for someone to explain in a simple, relatable way; and I thought you might be knowing. Sigh!’

[My man got my back. He knows how to trap me, gets my inflated ‘intellectual ego’ punctured, and make me blabber for hours. Boy, I can speak 15-hours on any topic without any stoppage. One has to be a patient listener, thankfully, the person is.] So, let me begin from the start.

Uighurs are the Turkic-speaking people settled in the north-west frontiers of China, in the arms of the mountainous—the recently, warring Galwan and Aksai-Chin. Remember, Genghis/Chan-giz Khan of Babur’s ancestry, I believe, Uighurs belongs to the fraction of the early Mongols. They have their territories from Kashgar to Hotan—one of the industrial belt that attracts ancient traders travelling on the Old Silk Route. Many of the Qing and Hui pieces of literature refers to them as “turban-headed Hui”.  Overall, the Uighurs were the aboriginal and quite ancient community.

Hmmm…so, what went wrong?

Nothing. It is same as the formation of Palestine. Jews were the original inhabitant of Israel; in fact, they consider it as ‘Holy Land Gifted to them’. A city on the southern spur of Judaean Mountains and dry riverbeds (wadis). Even the historical data records that Herod [some pronounce Heron] and David in 4^th millennium who built the First Temple on the Temple of Mount in honour or Yahwa.  King Nebuchadnezzar II, with support from Egyptians, destroyed the temple. Later Jews fought with Romans, Greeks for their sovereignty till they were thrown out of their land.

In early-century, the spread of Christianity followed with Rashidun, Ummayids, and Ottoman consolidation in the region, Israel witnesses a series of people clashing with each other. The Moslem also built the Al-Aqsa mosque on the eastern side of the city on top of Temple of Mount and barred Jews access to the reconstructed temple. Constant skirmishes, stone pelting, and power fight for having consolidation over the Gaza strip made the border of Israel-and-Palestine, one of the contentious border followed by India and Pakistan.

Currently, three sects, Jews, Christians, and Moslems have their own quarters; China did the same with Uighurs after they lost, sometimes in mid-1900. The People’s Liberation inducted the region under its fold and enact the state’s religion as universal and absolute. Expansionist China and its Communist regimes. Since 1950, the Uighur identity remained somewhat fragmented, and China denies its autonomy.

So, an expansionist community or sect finding it tough to defend itself from another expansionist ‘big brother’…these Moslems and Chinese are such a scum expansionist’, he berated. I laughed.

‘Why was the world lamenting….”, he has more arrows in his quiver.

‘Well, I failed to analyse that.” I respond, ‘…maybe due to some human rights,”

‘Hmmm….,’ he responded with profoundly

I seriously do not know. A Hindoo man calling me at a wee-hour and listening to Uighurs but no Moslem acquaintance [on my Twitter or Facebook] ever discussed the topic, maybe they are not aware, or maybe it does not interest their agendas. Moslems of India who takes offences on every issue and expert in-making a molehill of nothingness prefers to remain silent.

Since 2014, Uighurs in Xinjiang are under extensive controls and restrictions of China. Political restrictions (I can understand) but, religious restrictions, police surveillance, movement restrictions… Approximately 120,000, people are barred from growing beard, naming their child ‘Muhammad’, using prayer rug, smoking, proper hygiene, kosher foods—an ethnic cleansing on the prowl and everyone turns a blind eye. Strange. Interestingly, a majority of these Uighyus are Sunnites [not Shia’s or Ahmmaddiyas].

Pakistan has its obligation; after all, it is a rogue and sold state. Arabs never consider Moslems from South-Asia as equals due to their colour, linguistic, and cultural differences but, ‘Moslems of India’—the Sharjeel Imams, the Rana Ayyubs, the Owaisi, the Ansaris, the dadis and nanis of Shaheen Bagh—they too didn’t speak, maybe it does not suit their agenda.

A Kashmirdoes, a CAA does, a fake and unnecessary Islamophobia does, even ‘Rohingyas’ do—but, Uighurs; abandoned by their own, it is the living example of how Communism, Islam and the mankind are evil if one belongs to a minority.

The buck stops when the cash counter may stop ringing.