The Conquest of Constantinople

12/04/2010| IslamWeb

On Tuesday morning, 20 Jumada al-Ulaa, 857H; may 29, 1453AD, the Ottoman sultan, Mohammed Alfateh launched his last attack to conquer constantinople, after a siege that lasted more than 50 days. When the conquest became evident, the
sultan was told, that the Prophet’s, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, prophecy had been fulfilled. “Constantinople will be conquered, what an excellent leader is its leader and what an excellent army is its army.”

The Muslim in those early times knew the importance of the city and its excellent location as well as the prophet’s, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam the prophecy. There were many attempts to conquer it. The preparations for this conquest started at the time of the khalifah Moaweya ibn Aby Safyan in the year 48 H. In the year 51 H he prepared a huge fleet under the command of Yosr Ibn Aby Orto’a to put Constantinople under siege from the sea side. He sent his son, Yazeed Ibn Moaweyah, with an army from the land side. The siege continued for several months but they couldn’t conquer it . The great companion, abu Ayoub Al Answer was martyred in this battle and was buried near the gates of Constantinople.

A second attempt was at the time of Sulaiman Ibn Abdel Malek (98H) when he prepared a large army under the command of his brother Maslama Ibn Abdel Malek . He besieged the city by land and by sea for one full year. The Muslims retreated without conquest.

A third attempt was during the Abbaside ksalifah, Haroon Ar-Rasheed in the year 165H. The army reached the suburb of lskedar than the queen of the Romans asked for peace and promised to pay Jezya. Arrasheed agreed and returned back without conquest.

The attempts then stopped until Allah willed that the conquest happen at the hands of Sultan Mohammed Ibn Mourad (Alfateh or the conqueror ). He is the seventh in the Ottoman family, which established from the border of Vienna, Austria (the Ottoman did not enter Vienna) in central Europe, till Yemen in the South. It contained all the Arab countries except the Far West.

Mohammad Alfateh was born in the year 833 H, 1429 AD. He ruled at the age of 22. His father, Sultan Mourad, had appointed the scholars Ahmed Ibn Ismail Alkawrani to teach and raise him. Alkawrani was a scholar and a preacher. He went to Cairo and learned Alhadeeth from Ibn Hajar. The Sultan Mohammad learned Qur’an, Hadeeth and Fiqh as well as Mathematics, Geography, History and Military Sciences. He learned several languages perfectly besides Turkish, such as Persian and Arab.

One of the scholars who had an impact on the raising of the Sultan was Shaikh Mohammad Ibn Hamza who better known Shamsud-Deen. This Shaikh was also a scientist in medicine and had several publications. He also had research in Botany. This Shaikh was the one who reminded Elfateh of the Prophet’s, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, Hadeeth about conquering Constantinople and hoped that he was the one meant by it.

The Sultan Mohammad was determined to conquer Constantinople. He started building a fort from the European side on the Bosporus strait to control this water passage. In the capital Adrianople, giant cannons were built under the supervision of two Engineers, one was a Muslim and one was Hungarian called Orban. One of the biggest cannons of that was assembled. Its missile weighed 300Kg and its firing range was more than a mile. 

The siege began on April 9th, 1453. The concentration was on the land side. They needed to siege the seaside as well. Constantinople lies on a channel called the Gold channel. It was closed with a long chain; no ships could enter it. The Sultan thought of a way to avoid that chain. He ordered to transport the ships by land on oil painted wood and to unload them in the channel on the other side. The people of Constantinople were surprised to see the Ottoman inside their fences. 

On the morning of May 29th, after Fajr Prayers, the Sultan entered the tent of Shaikh Shamsud Deen and found him deep in supplication. He took this as a good omen. Sure enough the cannons had opened a hole in the fences. The soldiers had entered. The first martyr was a soldier called Walleyedeen Solaiman who had raised the Ottoman Sultan Mohammad entered the city victorious. Shaikh Shamssud-Deen reminded him of the Islamic shari’ah in war and conquest. On Friday, prayers were held in Aghia Sofia after the Sultan transformed it to a mosque and promised peace for the natives. He started building the city and moving Muslims to it.

Sultan Mohammad was one of the kings who cared about education. He established large schools. He instated in their syllabi as well as religious sciences. He was also known for his love of scholars and brought them from away lands. He consulted with the scholars and respected them.

After the conquest he said, “You see me happy, not only for conquering this fort (Constantinople) but also for having a very valuable Shaikh Mohammad in my time. He is my mentor Shaikh Mohammad Shamused-Deen”.

In a Hadeeth, the Prophet said, “Constantinople will be conquered, the best prince is its prince and the best army is that army” (Ahmad).

By: Mohammad AL-Abadah