ISTANBUL – Adhan was recited at Istanbul’s Aya Sophia mosque for the first time in decades early on Saturday morning, July 2, following a celebration to mark Laylat Al Qadr, the holiest night of Ramadan for Muslims.

During the night, known as Night of Power, a religious service was held at the mosque with the attendance of Mehmet Görmez, the head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, Turkish Minute reported on Saturday.

Attendants included Muezzin Fatih Koca, an academic of theology at the Ankara University, as well as Qur’an hafizes who were successful in an international Qur’an reciting contest.

A Qur’an recital took place before a public prayer presided by İstanbul Mufti Rahmi Yaran.

Görmez condemned the recent suicide bomb attack that claimed 44 lives at the İstanbul Atatürk Airport. Görmez described the terrorist assault as a “war waged against Islam and the sacred values it has brought to humanity.”

A church for over 1,000 years, and a mosque for 500 more, Aya Sophia is the most spectacular building in Istanbul.

The church was turned into a mosque after Constantinople was taken by Sultan Mehmet II in 1453.

Extraordinary masters of the Ottoman Empire architects repaired the building extensively in the 16th century, providing greater exterior support for the dome and the walls. Minarets were also added.

Yet, a Turkish secular law in 1934 barred religious services at the 6th-century monument, a decision that has applied ever since.

In 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc stood outside Aya Sophia in November and said he “prayed to God it would soon be smiling again,” then cited a law forbidding houses of worship to be used for other purposes.

A year earlier, Erdogan also ruled out changing Aya Sophia’s status as long as another great Istanbul house of worship, the 17th Century Sultan Ahmed Mosque, remains mostly empty of worshippers.