Najmul Hoda on reverting Hagia Sophia to a mosque

WordForPeace.com Special

So, the wrong of history is being righted in Turkey, and those who oppose the rewriting of history in India are discreetly silent on the matter. Knowing them, I know they are gloating in silence. Their moral compass is flawed, their stances on public issues are hypocritical, and their espousal of noble principles are opportunistic. In their moral universe, it’s fine to wish on others that which they don’t wish for themselves. They did it earlier too, and we are paying for it now.

When the wave of terrorism started, they kept quiet, privately justified, and secretly celebrated it. By the time they woke up to its dangers, much water had flown in the rivers from the Euphrates to the Ganges. A morally debilitated community had no feet to stand on. And so, when they felt compelled to call a spade a spade, they couldn’t go beyond denouncing the symptoms, for the malaise was in the ideology they had embraced as their religion.

We are faced with a similar situation now. We must stand up and be counted. If we fail again, we will remain discounted forever. Don’t say why should you be expected to shout condemnation from the rooftop every time some wrong happens. Oh, come on, don’t you keep shouting day in and day out the saga of your victimhood? You love shouting, don’t you? So, shout now too!

It’s an enormity to revert Hagia Sophia to a mosque which it never truly was. This is a Church which was forcibly converted into a mosque. Mustafa Kemal was only half right to make it into a museum. He should have reverted it to its original status as a church. My friends, please don’t say that as Indians you have nothing to do with Turkey.

Well, you do. You know it. You watch the Ertugral series as your own epic. You launched the Khilafat Movement. You flaunt the Islamic globalism of Ummah. Don’t resort to disingenuous pleas. Don’t be too clever by half. Instead, be prudent. Do what’s good for you. Do you, do you, even realise the implications of Hagia Sophia for Kashi and Mathura?