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On July 10, 2020, Channel 9 (Turkey) aired a show about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's announcement that the Hagia Sophia, a former Byzantine church, will be reverted from a museum to a mosque. TV host Muhammad Abd Al-Baqi said that the Hagia Sophia has been returned to its rightful owners, that all Muslims are rejoicing at the reinstatement of the mosque, and that the non-Muslims are in mourning because of this. He added that the "people of falsehood," Muslims and non-Muslims, have reacted to this as though they are afflicted with Mad Cow Disease. He also said that today the Hagia Sophia mosque is reinstated as a mosque and tomorrow the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be liberated. Later in the show, Abd Al-Wahab Akanji, the head of Turkish branch of the Islamic Scholars Union, said that all the problems in the Islamic world started because the Hagia Sophia had been turned from a mosque into a museum.
Muhammad Abd Al-Baqi: "Hagia Sophia has returned to the Muslims. The [mosque] has returned to its rightful owners, and their faces cheered up, their hearts rejoiced, their voices sang the praise of Allah, and their throats cried out 'Allah Akbar.'"
Leader: "Say 'Allah Akbar!'"
Crowd: "'Allah Akbar!'"
Leader: "Say 'Allah Akbar!'"
Crowd: "'Allah Akbar!'"
Al-Baqi: "Hagia Sophia has been reverted to a mosque, like it used to be in the past. The cries of 'Allah Akbar!' are once again shouted from its minarets, the Muslims will pray in it again, so we have every right to be happy. Muslims from all corners of the Earth have the right to rejoice.
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"On the other hand, the people of falsehood - Arabs as well as non-Arabs – are up in arms. Gloom has covered their faces, and sorrow their hearts. They immediately started to beat their faces with their hands, sobbing and wailing. The madness that afflicted them is reminiscent of the Mad Cow Disease. This is not only a victory for the Turkish people and its leadership, but also a partial victory for Islam. The joy of this victory is shared by Muslims all over the world, at a time when catastrophes are befalling us from right and left. When our mosques were turned into churches in Spain and elsewhere, we were sad and they were happy. When our mosques were destroyed in East Turkestan, we were sad and they were happy. When our mosques in India and elsewhere were turned into Hindu shrines, we were sad and they were happy. The Al-Aqsa Mosque has been occupied by Zionist gangs for decades, and they defile it and attack it and its people, day and night. We were saddened by it and we are still sad, and they are happy.
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"As for the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque – We are going to liberate it from the hands of the Zionists, their slaves, and their collaborators. It is enough that we put our trust in Allah's promise and strive to bring that day. Hagia Sophia today, the Al-Aqsa Mosque tomorrow."
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Abd Al-Wahab Akanji: "When did all these problems in the [Islamic] world start? Why have all these troubles and problems come to us? The destruction of Islam, the division amongst the Muslims, and the Zionist occupation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Holy Land... All our suffering is the result of turning [Hagia Sophia] into a museum. It was that change – that crime – which was committed 86 years ago, that paved the way to our suffering today."
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