Muhammad Al-Fatih: The Conquer

Muhammad Al-Fatih, also known as Mehmed II or Mehmed the Conqueror, was born on the 30^th March 1432 (27^th Rajab, 835 A.H). 

 

His father, Sultan Murad II, had prepared him to be a great Islamic leader by teaching him the Qur’an, learn many Hadiths, Islamic syariah, mathematics, astronomy and skills needed for war.  He also learned many languages such as Arabic, Persian, Latin and Greek languages. He joined his father in many of his battles and conquest.

 

Shayk Aaq Sham-Deen, one of the scholars who helped Al-Fatih in his learning, managed to put in his heart the spirit of Jihad and made sure that Al-Fatih has high dreams of Constantinople.

 

Everyday Shayk would show him the great Constantin wall.  Al-Fatih dreams of conquering Constantinople ever since he was very young. His father kept saying to him that he would be the person Prophet Muhammad SAW promised. Once the Prophet said to his companions:  “You will conquer Constantinople. Its commander is the best and its army (that will conquer it) is the best.”

 

Before preparing an army, he made sure that he never leave any voluntary and tahajud prayer (shalat). He also made sure that he has memorized the whole Qur’an.

 

After the death of his father, Sultan Murad II on the 7^th February 1451 (5^th Muharram 852 A.H), he took over and became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.  He was only twenty years old but he was also strong and enthusiastic.

 

The first step in achieving his dream was to control the supplies and support from Europe. He did that by building a huge castle on the seashore near Strait of Bosporus. It took three months to build the castle. It is now known as the Roman Castle.

 

The second step in achieving his dream was to try getting in to Constantinople itself. Around Constantinople there was very high walls. The heights of those walls were about 18m. There were walls all around Constantinople but the ones facing the sea was not as strong as the ones facing land. Firstly he tried using the sea route.  He built and army of 320 vessels and 200,000 troops. He decided to use the way from the Marmara Sea.

 

When he arrived in front of the gate that faced the Marmara Sea, the people of Constantinople did not care that Al- Fatih’s army was right in front of their wall. Instead they sent about 70 ships to fight Al - Fatih’s army. Constantinople won and the rest of the army returned to their own country.

 

His third step of his plan was to try and get in from land. An engineer managed to build him two cannon that fired one bomb every three hours. In the end they surrendered again because every time they tried to attack, the soldiers of Constantinople rebuilt the tower. In the end they lost many people from their army and decided to change the strategy by trying to get in from the Golden horn.

 

At that time the Golden horn is protected with a strong chain not allowing boats or ships to be able to get into the bay. So Al – Fatih’s army decided to use the Galatta Mountains. They carried their boats when going up and sitting on the boats when sliding down. In the end they managed to carry the boat to the Golden Horn...

 

The people of Constantinople were so shocked that they started to fight Al–Fatih’s army with bows and arrows. Some people died and others were left to battle. When they have nearly reached the Constantin wall, Al – Fatih told his army to fast that day and to do Tahajud prayer that night.

 

They reached a beach near the Constantin wall at last. Before trying to get to the city of Constantinople, Al – Fatih and his army did their first prayer in Constantinople.

 

After doing Shalat they had to break the door to be able to enter Constantinople.  Al – Fatih announced that there would be no fighting and that he only wants to have the Aya Sofya church to be turned into a masjid. The first prayer in the Aya Sofya masjid was the Asr prayer.

 

Aya Sofya has been a masjid for a long time until Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colony occupied Turkey. It is now a museum.

 

The moral of the story is “If you want to be successful you need to be persistent, confident and organised.” Remember, everything Prophet Muhammad (SAW) say is always true.