Well, thanks be to Allah, the first Friday prayer for Muslims in 86 years took place in the returned Ayasofya Mosque. Many of our readers surely watched the event live, so we will not write so much about it, but about what is connected with it.
As you can see, it was not the end of the world. Moreover, in Russia, where this return was protested more than anything else, this day became almost festive. And not only for Muslims.
The thing is that today the Prime Minister of Russia announced the resumption of international air traffic starting from August 1, initially with three countries, including Turkey (the other two are Great Britain and Zanzibar). Judging by the comments on social media, the joy of thousands of Russians who dream of being on Turkish beaches in the near future knew no bounds.
And their dissatisfaction and unwillingness to deny themselves this pleasure because of the transformation of the Ayasofya Museum into a mosque was also boundless from the perspective of those for whom today became a day of mourning.
The latter, however, have continued to demonstrate in recent days how they understand the religious neutrality they have called on the Turkish authorities to maintain in the Ayasofya issue. Having built the Orthodox Main Cathedral of the Armed Forces in the secular and multi-denominational Russian Federation, they have now started to build another «Main Cathedral» for the Olympic team, the same secular and multi-denominational Russian Federation.
Of course, the main cathedral of the Olympic team in the secular and multi-confessional Russian Federation will also be Orthodox — the church in honor of His Holiness Prince Dmitry Donskoy. Whether Caucasian and other Muslim fighters and other athletes who bring a significant part of Russia’s medals to the Olympic team will be invited to pray there is not reported.
Well, at least the last thing remains to be happy about — that without having the opportunity to pray in mosques for athletes or military personnel — Muslims in their (but this is not certain) country, they can now come and perform prayers in Ayasofya.