Why did the date of the Destimal ceremony attended by Erdoğan change?

Last Friday, April 5, President Erdoğan attended a very special ceremony at Topkapı Palace; the name of this ceremony was the 'Destimal Ceremony'. Many media outlets were unable to reflect the details, with only Eyüp Serbest from Hürriyet writing a detailed report focused on the subject (I congratulate him), but this was an important ceremony in Ottoman and Islamic history. 

The Destimal ceremony is a tradition repeated for hundreds of years and takes place as follows:

The cloak of Prophet Muhammad, which is among the Sacred Relics at Topkapı Palace, is removed once a year from the golden chest in which it is kept and from the layers of bundles it is wrapped in, with prayers and salutations. Then, specially prepared, printed white handkerchiefs called 'Destimal' are touched to the Hırka-i Şerif (the Holy Cloak), and these are distributed to those attending this special ceremony. According to belief, these handkerchiefs are placed on the faces of the deceased when they are buried, and in this way, those buried are believed to go to heaven.

This 'Destimal Ceremony' was the very event President Erdoğan attended. As can be seen in the videos circulating on social media, Erdoğan wore white gloves, opened the Hırka-i Şerif chest, and unwrapped the layers of bundles one by one until the Hırka-i Şerif was revealed; then, the Destimals were touched to the cloak one by one and distributed to the guests. We even saw in the video that former Chief of General Staff and Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar Pasha also took one or two of the destimals, and he even exchanged the one in his hand with the one in his pocket to give it to someone standing behind him who had asked for one. 

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I am one of the lucky people who saw this ceremony years ago; thanks to the special invitation of my friend, journalist Murat Bardakçı, and the Director of Topkapı Palace at that time, Prof. İlber Ortaylı, I had the chance to attend this ceremony in 2008. Since the ceremony takes place in a small room at Topkapı Palace reserved for the Sacred Relics, only about 40-50 guests could enter. At the ceremony we attended, there was the then-Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Kadir Topbaş, mufti officials, some members of the Koç family including women, and several journalists and newspaper executives. Again, the room was entered with prayers and salutations, the then-Mufti of Istanbul opened the chest and the bundles one by one with gloves, the Hırka-i Şerif was revealed, the destimals were touched to it, and they were distributed to us guests.

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Now let's come to the history of this ceremony and the destimal ceremonies during the Ottoman period.

According to what journalist Eyüp Serbest wrote, Prophet Muhammad had taken the cloak, which is kept in the golden chest, off his back and gifted it to the poet Ka'b Bin Zuhair. In the following centuries, the cloak passed to the Umayyads and Abbasids, respectively, and after the conquest of Egypt, it was brought to Istanbul along with other sacred relics.

The cloak of Prophet Muhammad, called Hırka-i Saadet, is wide-sleeved, made of a blackish woolen fabric, lined with a coarse cream-colored wool fabric on the inside, and is 1.24 meters wide. A 23x30 cm piece is missing from the right side of the front. There are also missing parts on the right sleeve. It is kept wrapped in bundles inside a double-lidded golden drawer that opens from the top. 

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The Destimal ceremony is not a first for President Erdoğan; he had attended the same ceremony once before in 2017. Journalist Murat Bardakçı wrote that this visit in 2017 was a 'first' that had occurred after 95 years and said the following:

“The Hırka-i Saadet Visit was a very important protocol activity held on the fifteenth of Ramadan during our imperial period and continued without interruption for centuries. The last cloak visit ceremony took place in Ramadan 1340, in May 1922. After the proclamation of the Republic, the Sacred Relics Department, which remained closed for many years, could only be opened in July 1964. The cloak was opened for a narrow circle in the following years of Ramadan, but a 'Hırka-i Saadet Visit Ceremony' in which the head of state also participated had never been held. The ceremony held last Friday in the Sacred Relics Room of Topkapı Palace is important for this reason, that is, because it was performed for the first time after exactly 95 years...”

As can be seen, Erdoğan became the state leader who realized this after nearly a century in 2017. Last week, he performed a repeat of this.

During the Ottoman period, philanthropists from all over the empire, those who had schools, inns, and caravanserais built, were specially invited to this destimal ceremony held under the leadership of the Sultans. Those who received an invitation from the palace were sent off as if they were going on Hajj and welcomed with enthusiasm. Those who possessed the Destimal-i Şerif, which had writings praising Prophet Muhammad on them, would leave a will to be buried with it.

Murat Bardakçı prefers to say 'Destmal' instead of 'Destimal' and says that the ceremony held is not a “Destmal program” but a “Hırka-i Saadet Visit Ceremony”.

Now let's come to the day this ceremony was held; President Erdoğan attended this Destimal ceremony last week on Friday, which was the 26th day of the month of Ramadan and coincided with the Night of Power (Kadir Gecesi); however, it has been a tradition to hold Destimal ceremonies on the 15th day of the month of Ramadan, and Murat Bardakçı also states in his articles that it was held on the 15th day. We do not know why this year's Destimal ceremony was left to the 26th day; it is unclear whether the ceremony was moved to the same day as the Night of Power because the 15th day of Ramadan coincided with the local election campaign; perhaps the 15th day is not a rule.

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By the way, since the subject has turned to Destimal, that is, handkerchiefs, let us not pass without telling another 'Holy Handkerchief' story that is well-known in Christianity and originates particularly from Urfa. 

The belief is that King Abgar, the King of the period living in Urfa while Jesus was alive, fell ill and, upon hearing of Jesus' miracles, sent someone to him and invited him. Jesus said he could not come to Urfa but sent a handkerchief he had pressed to his face. When King Abgar of Urfa touched this handkerchief, which took the shape of Jesus' face, to his own face, he found healing and recovered, and then he kept the 'Holy Handkerchief' under protection and displayed it in his own palace in Urfa; over time, the handkerchief disappeared, reappeared a few centuries later, changed hands, was first brought to Istanbul, and then somehow went to Italy. There are still multiple 'Holy Handkerchief' churches in Europe that believe the handkerchief is in their possession. 

In Christianity, this holy handkerchief is also called 'Mandylion', and the word 'Mendil' (handkerchief) originates from this.