Behind the Conquest of Constantinople

Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wassalam said, "Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!" (Narrated by Ahmad 4/335)

The attempts to conquer Constantinople had started by Sayidina Ali during 34 Hijr. Then by Muawiyah bin Abu Sufyan during 84 Hijr, Sultan Sulaiman in 91 hijr, Khalifah Harun al-Rasyid (165 Hijr), Sultan Beyazid in year 1391, 1397 and 1400 but all met with failure. Finally on 20 Jamadilawal 857 Hijr (29th May 1435), Constantinople was conquered by the Islam army lead by Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh.

But the success was not only due to the greatness of Muhammad Al-Fateh leading the army also due to other factors way before the success can be achieved. The leaders before Muhammad Al-Fateh plays a great role in the conquest of Constantinople. We must also agree that Al-Fateh was the greatest leader and the army under him was the greatest army of all time as what the Prophet had said.

Let's trace back the date way before Constantinople is conquered to look at the effort of leaders before Al-Fateh.

The reign of Khalifah Umar Al-Khattab:
- Under the command of Abdul Rahman bin Rabiah, the army of Islam reached the area inhabited by the Turkish.
- The Turkish King of that time is Syahr Baraz.
- Abdul Rahman gave him 2 choices - peace or war
- Syahr Baraz chose peace and the Turkish embraced Islam
- With the help of the Turkish, Armenia was successfully conquered and Islam was spread there.

The Ruling of Muawiyah bin Abu Sufyan:
- Bukhara and Samarkand was conquered.

Khalifah Abbasiyah:
- There is misunderstandings between Khalifah Abbasiyah in Baghdad and Khalifah Fatimiyah in Egypt.
- The Seljuk Empire was formed and reign the area of Khurasan, Turkistan, Iran, Iraq, Syam (which is now the Syria) and Central Asia
- The Seljuk Empire was then defeated by the Mongolian under the command of Genghis Khan.

Uthmaniyah Empire:
- Erthogul leaded a tribe of Turkish and ran away from the Mongolian towards Anatolia
- During the time, two empires were enemy -the Roman Empire and the Seljuk Dynasty ruled by Sultan Alauddin
- Erthogul sided the Seljuk and helped defeating the Romans
- Sultan Alauddin gifted the region on the west of Anatolia to Erthogul.
- Under the ruling of Erthogul, the region was expanded and the surrounding areas was conquered

Year 1288:
- Erthogul died and Usman took over.
- The region was continued to be expanded with the approval of Sultan Alauddin.

Year 1300:
- The Seljuk Dynasty was then defeated by the Mongolian, Sultan Alauddin died, the colonies was breaking apart.
- Sultan Usman tried to unite back the Turkish territories.
- This marks the starting of Uthmaniyah Empire.
- He managed to expand the territories until Bursa before he died.

Year 1326:
- Usman Died and replaced by Sultan Orhan Ghazi.
- Bursa was made the Capital and he ruled for 20 years.
- The territories was continue to be expanded to Nicomedia, Nice and a few Asian Countries.
- A troop of armed forces was formed under Sultan Orhan Ghazi and named The Janissaries.

Year 1359 - 1389:
- The reign of Sultan Murad.
- Conquered Adranah Sofia and Kosovo.
- Edirne was made the Capital

Year 1393 - 1403:
- The reign of Sultan Beyazid
- Conquered Bulgaria, France and Germany.
- Tried to conquer Constantinople three times but failed.
- In year 1402, a fierce battle happened between the Mongolian with 200,000 armies and the Uthmaniyah with 80,000 armies.
- Uthmaniyah was defeated and Sultan Beyazid was captured.
- Sultan Beyazid died after seven months of torture.

Year 1403 - 1500:
- Sultan Beyazid was replaced by Sultan Sulaiman, then Sultan Musa, Sultan Mehmed Halabi and by Sultan Murad II, the father of Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh.
- Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh ascended the throne in year 1500 when he was 19 years old.

The reign of Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh:
- Adrianople was made the Capital and Governing Center.
- Contantinople was successfully conquered when he was 21 years old (29 Mei 1453 // 20 Jamadilawal 857 Hijr)
- Constantinople was then renamed to Istanbul and was made the Capital.
- Al-Fateh then conquered Serbia (1460), Bosnia (1462), Italia, Hungary and Germany.
- In his peak of glory, he reign 25 states.
- He was preparing to conquer Rhodesia but died of poisoning by a Jewish named Maestro Jakopa.

I think that's all for today. I will write again soon.

(Source: Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh by Abdul Latip Talib)