Topkapı Palace maintains 500-year-old 24-hour Quran recitation tradition

In the Sacred Relics Room, one of the most visited sections of Topkapı Palace, the tradition of continuous 24-hour Quran recitation, initiated during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Yavuz Sultan Selim, has been carried out uninterrupted for five centuries. Located in the Enderun Courtyard of Topkapı Palace, the Sacred Relics Room attracts visitors year-round. Visitors entering the room are greeted by the Quran recited continuously for 24 hours, a tradition that has been maintained without interruption for 500 years. One complete Quran reading (hatm) is completed every day, totaling 365 hatms per year. The prayers of these 365 recitations are performed during the 'Destimal Ceremony' held in Ramadan, following a tradition that has continued from the Ottoman era to the present. İlhan Kocaman, Head of Topkapı Palace, stated that the palace is the historical heart of Istanbul and that many valuable artifacts from around the world were brought to Istanbul at that time. He explained that, as Istanbul was the center of the caliphate, sacred relics were collected there. 'When Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered the Hejaz region and Egypt, he brought the caliphate and the relics of the Prophet Muhammad to here. Yavuz Sultan Selim said, 'Find me 39 hafiz, I will be the 40th,' and the 24-hour Quran reading tradition started that day and continues today,' Kocaman said. Kocaman also shared that when the room containing the Prophet Muhammad's Sacred Mantle (Hırka-i Saadet) was cleaned, the Ottomans did not throw the dust outside but poured it into a specially dug well. 'This was the way our ancestors treated the Prophet's relics and other sacred items,' he added.

Topkapı Palace maintains 500-year-old 24-hour Quran recitation tradition

Topkapı Palace's Sacred Relics Room has maintained an unbroken 24-hour Quran recitation tradition for 500 years, initiated by Sultan Yavuz Selim and continuing to this day.