In Ramadan Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque is preparing for the first Tarawih prayer in 88 years

209 mosques in Istanbul receive those wishing to retreat after it was banned for two years due to the Corona epidemic. Including the Great Hagia Sophia Mosque. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Tarawih prayers will be held in the Andron method, which was present in the Ottoman palaces.

The Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque is preparing to receive arrivals to Tarawih prayers for the first time in 88 years, after two years of delay due to the Corona epidemic.

For two years, Tarawih prayers were prohibited in congregation, as part of measures to confront the outbreak of the epidemic, and with life returning to normal, the Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque received the first Tarawih prayer on the evening of Friday, the first of April.

Tarawih in the way of "Andron"

Various activities will be held in Hagia Sophia and the rest of Istanbul's mosques throughout the holy month, from reciting and sealing the Qur'an in the manner of interview, supplications, chants, invocations and preaching lessons.

Tarawih prayers will also be held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays using the "Andron" method, which was present in the traditions of the Ottoman palaces in the past.

End of Quran and I'tikaaf

Within the framework of the "Ramadan and the Truth" program launched by the Istanbul Ifta Authority on the occasion of Ramadan, 158 mosques will be opened throughout the state for worship 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Qur’an will be sealed in Tarawih prayers in 93 mosques, and the Qur’an will be concluded reading with tafsir in the manner of the interview in 63 mosques throughout the city.

And 209 mosques in Istanbul will receive worshipers wishing to retreat, after it was banned for two years due to Corona. During the seclusion period, all precautionary measures will be adhered to, and a maximum of 5 people will be accepted into each mosque.

The Istanbul Fatwa Authority will also announce on its website the mosques participating in the program and the events that will be organized in each mosque. Tarawih prayers will be held in the Andron method in 34 mosques in addition to the Great Hagia Sophia.

Tarawih prayer with “Andron”, a method that appeared in the Ottoman Palace and moved from it to mosques, and was held on special days. It has continued to this day.

In this method, the recitation is in the first 3 rak’ahs of Tarawih prayer on the shrine of Isfahan, and the imam moves in the fourth rak’ah to the shrine of the youth, while the muezzins recite songs and prayers on the Prophet in the shrine of the youth.

The imam continues to move between the shrines every four rak'ahs according to the shrine in which the chief muezzin recites supplications and prayers for the Prophet. After the end, the latter recites songs and supplications, and after performing the Witr prayer, it is necessary to move to the stage of remembrance and glorification.

Among the most famous shrines used in Tarawih prayers in the Andron method are: Hejaz, Sikah, Isfahan, Ashaq, and Ajam Asheran. The reading of the Witr prayer is often done in Maqam Sikah.

The first time that Tarawih prayers were held in the Andron method in Ramadan in 1831 during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II, the chief muezzin at that time was the famous Turkish composer Hamamizadeh Ismail Dada Effendi, and Imam Zine El Abidine Effendi was the chief imam of the palace.