Istanbul · a Light

A room in Topkapi has had a reciter since 1517

The Chamber of the Sacred Trusts in Topkapi Palace holds objects venerated as relics: a mantle and a staff attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, hairs of his beard, swords attributed to his companions, the keys and gilded fittings of the Kaaba door, and letters said to be his to foreign rulers. Most arrived after 1517, when Selim I took Cairo and the sharif of Makkah sent the keys of the sanctuary. Historians cannot establish the provenance of most of the objects by ordinary evidence, and museum labels are careful about this. What is documented is the practice around them: Qur'an has been recited in that room continuously, in shifts, since the trusts arrived, and reciters are still appointed to do it.

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul · from 1517