Haghia Sophia - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 55

approaching to that of paradise. Every night in the month
of Ramazan, the two thousand lamps lighted there and the
lanterns containing wax tapers perfumed with camphor pour
forth streams of light upon light; and in the centre of the dome
a circle of lamps represents in letters as finely formed as those
of Yakut Musta'sime, that text of the Kuran: “God is the light
of the heavens and of the earth.”
And so, for nearly five centuries after the Conquest, Haghia Sophia
served the faithful Muslims of the city, just as it had served devout
Christians for more than nine centuries before the Fall. These words
which Evliya Çelebi wrote of Haghia Sophia would have been a true
description of it in either period, as church or mosque: “Aya Sofya is
in itself, peculiarly the place of God. It is always full of holy men who
pass the day there in fasting and the night in prayer. Seventy lectures well
pleasing to God are given there daily, so that to the student it is a mine of
knowledge, and it never fails to be frequented by multitudes every day.”
THE PRECINCTS OF HAGHİA SOPHİA
Something of the reverence which was accorded to Haghia Sophia
in Ottoman times can be gathered from the fact that five sultans are
buried in its precincts. These royal sepulchers are located in the garden
just to the south of Haghia Sophia. The oldest of these structures
is the türbe of the two mad sultans, Mustafa I and Ibrahim, who
ruled briefly in the first half of the seventeenth century. This building,
which stands at the south-west corner of Haghia Sophia, just to the
right of the entrance, was formerly the Baptistry, and is part of the
original structure of Justinian's church. We learn from Evliya Çelebi
that when Mustafa I died in 1623 no place had been prepared for his
burial and on the suggestion of Evliya's father it was decided to turn
the Baptistry into a türbe for the dead sultan. Beside Mustafa lies his
nephew, Crazy Ibrahim, who ruled from 1640 till 1648. Evliya tells
us that Ibrahim's tomb was much visited by women, “because he was
much addicted to them.” But, alas, the women of Stamboul can no
longer visit the tomb of Crazy Ibrahim, because the Baptistry is not
open to the public.