Ayasofya a church then a mosque then a museum to return being a mosque at the end. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I the First build it the way it is right now in the year 537. After the great opening of Constantinople by Mehmed AlFateh in the year 1453 it became a mosque. Leaving all these conflicts, let’s take a look at the myths and the stories of Ayasofya, since there are many related myths about it.
The first myth of Ayasofya: It was built by Prophet Sulayman (Solomon)
Maybe this myth is the strangest myth of Ayasofya. The myth is that prophet Sulayman is the real builder of it, when he asked the jinn, the people, the giants and the mermaids to cut the marbles of all type and colors from Qaf mountain to build a temple. Its foundations were dug on a depth of 70m, then these foundations ware made and mixed with gold and silver to be rebuilt in case of destruction. Even though prophet Sulyman was one thousand years before the temple in place on Ayasofya was built.
Qaf is a great mountain around the earth, it is fromed from green peridot, it is considered one of myths, it is known to be taller than 500 years’ march.
On the other hand, the Christian myths Ayasofya has 361 doors, 101 of them are big and have magical divination on them. Whenever someone tries to count these doors, he will always have a different number, where each time he’ll find an additional door.
In addition to these myths, another one which say that one of these doors is made of the wood of Prophet Noah’s ship; this wood that is from the “Joudy” mountain that was mentioned in Quran. This mountain is located on the south east of Turkey in the Şırnak city. Dr. Farhat Aslan collected these myths in a book called “Myths of Ayasofya” sponsored by the municipality of Istanbul according to Turk Press.
These myths also include that Maryam (Mary) Mother of Jesus cried above the marble pole inside Ayasofya. Her tears formed a hole inside the marble since she was very sad when they caught Jesus and torture him according to Christians’ beliefs. Emperor Justinian I ordered to get this pole when they built Ayasofya.
Another myth is that one of the Latin Leaders tried to control Constantinople, he was 80 years old and when he arrived there he died and was buried inside Ayasofya so that the visitors will walk on his grave.
For Muslims, they have more stories
And now we’ll talk about stories that Muslims tell about Ayasofya, which started when Muhamed Alfateh turned Ayasofya into a mosque. When we say Muslims we mean Turkish ones since Ayasofya means a lot to them. These stories are also collected by Farhat Aslan in the book “Myths of Ayasofya”:
The first myth related to the moment of Constantinople was opened and when Muhamad Alfateh prayed there. The first thing muslims did when they entered Constantinople was making Juma’a prayers in Ayasofya, and the Shiekh of Mohamat Alfateh Ak Şemsettin was the one who declaimed and Muhamat Alfateh was the Imam in that prayer.
Muhamat alfateh stood in the sanctuary, after the first Takbir he stopped his prayers twice but continued the prayers in the third time. After the prayers people asked Shiekh Ak Şemsettin about Muhamad Alfateh’s action and reason. He told them that Alkhader was between the them and he turned the temple to the Kaaba direction because it was not in the right direction. So Muhamad Alfateh couldn’t see the Kaaba except after the third time of starting the prayers. Muhammad Alfateh said that the dome of Ayasofya is there with the blessing of Prophet Muhammad then he ordered to put a golden ball in the middle of it.
It is also said that its dome cracked on the birth of Prophet Muhammad and it stayed a long time without being rebuilt until AlKhader ordered to be rebuilt with a mixture having spittle of Prophet Muhammad and Zamzam water.
Another story about it is that Muhamat Alfateh when he surrounded Constantinople a great light from the dome has appeared, so Othmani took it as a sign of opening Constantinople. After a while was the great opening of Constantinople.
