Source: This article was published in the 14th issue of Nida'ul Islam magazine, July-September 1996.
Attempts to Liberate the City
A few words which issued from the Imam of the Muslim nation with respect
to the promise from the Allah, All Glory to Him, at the tongue of His messenger,
which made the Muslim lieutenants in different times to compete with pounding
hearts to liberate this city so that they can achieve the honour of the
above description which Allah has blessed them with at the tongue of His
messenger. The first to besiege Constantinople was Mu'awiya son of Abi
Sufyan during the Khilafa of 'Ali bin Abi Taleb (May Allah be pleased with
him) in the year 34, he was followed by his son Yazid in 47 then Sufyan
Bin Aws in 52 who was in turn followed by Salma during the Khilafa of 'Umar
Ibn 'Abdul 'Aziz in the year 97. It was also besieged during the Khilafa
of Hisham Ibn 'Abdul Malik in 121 and the last siege was during the Khilafa
of Haroun Al Rashid may Allah have mercy on him in 182. The sieges stopped
when the Islamic government began to weaken and split and became preoccupied
with its enemies internally and externally until the arrival of the 'Uthmany
sultans who took turns in besieging it one after the other with no result,
until the blessed general came who deserved the description of the messenger,
this happened approximately eight centuries after the first siege. This
was on the 16th of Rabee' Al Awwal in 857 when the 'Uthmany sultan Muhammad
Al Fateh May Allah have mercy with him moved against the city walls with
his army of 150,000 Mujahideen who were very keen to achieve the great
honour of accomplishing the blessed promise.
However, they did not rely solely on the promise, they also underwent a complete preparation to achieve the victory. The historian Ismail Hami Danshbund, a contemporary of the sultan Muhammad Alfateh narrates: "The sultan would spend long hours every night since ascending the throne, studying the plans of the city, looking for strategic points of defence and attempting to find weak points which he could benefit from and to work on the appropriate plan to attack these points. In addition to this, the Sultan had committed to memory all the previous attempts to liberate the city, the names of their leaders, and the reasons for their failure... He would continue to discuss with his lieutenants and generals what is required for the final attack. He also ordered the engineers to build what is required to facilitate the liberation. They built large cannons which would traject numerous heavy metal balls and bombs weighing as much as three tonnes. In addition to the other heavy artillery which the sultan built himself which were used for the first time in the attack on Constantinople; which had a great effect in the liberation of the city. That was from the material end, however, on the morale end, he took with him many contemporary scholars and Imams who held authority such as Sheikh Alqourany, and Sheikh Khisrawi, who would motivate the soldiers and drive them towards Jihad... As for his enemies, as soon as he reached the walls of the Constantinople, he ordered the call of Azan for Jum`a and commenced prayer. When the Byzantines saw the hundred and fifty thousand Muslims praying behind their leader and the sound of their takbir breaking the horizon, they began to tremble in fear and worry, and their minds were defeated before their bodies.
The Battle
After the sultan divided and placed his army, he sent his messenger
to the king of Bizantia asking him to hand over the city giving him a full
guarantee of safety for its residents, their wealth, their lives, their
beliefs, and their honour. The refusal of the king to do this and his declaration
of war against the Muslims led to the bombardment of the city for 48 days
leading to the demolishing of some of the outer walls, without reaching
the inner walls. The city withstood other operations. When king Constantine
realised the seriousness of the situation, he wrote to the pope who assisted
him with five large ships filled with weapons, provisions, and soldiers..
leading to the increase in morale of the defenders. Their joy did not last
for long however, for the next morning, they were surprised with eighty
ships inside their gulf which they had blocked with heavy chains and fortified
with a large force. However, the sultan through his foresight brought the
ships over land by paving a path for them of six miles of large tree branches
which he had embalmed with oil so that the giant ships can slide over them
with their tens of thousands of soldiers.. until they were brought to the
gulf waters behind the enemy defences. At the time that the ships reached
the gulf, the ships of the Bizantines were flaming with the fire from the
artillery of the Ottomans, despite this, Constantinople withheld one more
time. However, the sultan persisted, and he ordered the digging of tunnels
underground to use these to crawl into the city, though the early discovery
of these by the Bizantines made them of no effect.
The Military Prowess
With the new morn, the sultan ordered the setting up of his secret
weapon which he had invented himself, which is a giant mobile tower, higher
than the walls of the city accommodating hundreds of soldiers. This struck
fear amongst the Bizantines leading them to believe that the Muslims were
using demons in their battles. After the Muslims broke the middle walls,
the defenders were able to destroy the moving towers by throwing chemicals
at them. However, the resistance of the city began to weaken, while nightfall
had left the Bizantines filled with fear leading them to spend their night
in their churches praying their Lord to send to their aid the blue angels
to save Constantinople from the Muslims. Whilst the sultan spent his night
motivating his armies reminding them of the hadith of the messenger, and
praying for victory from Allah.
Entering The City
As soon as the new morn came, the soldiers began their general attack.
The Muslims began to erect towers and ladders and to cast projectiles at
the inner walls of the city. However, the forts of the city and the desperate
defense of its army delayed its liberation, and thousands of Muslim soldiers
fell martyrs. When the sultan saw the size of his loss, he ordered the
foot soldiers to withdraw. whilst he also ordered a continuation of the
bombardment until midday, when he ordered a complete attack and stirred
them to this. The Muslim army attacked and some of the Mujahideen were
able to enter the city, the first to enter it was the Mujahid Hasan Ulu
Badi with thirty of his brothers, however, the arrows rained on them from
every side, and they were all martyred, the Muslims then began to retreat,
and they almost began to flee.
The Importance of The Leader in The Battle
At this came the essential role of the leader in the battle as the
sultan stood and spoke to his soldiers taking example from the messenger
of Allah during the battle of Uhud giving an example of bravery in a few
words, saying: "my sons, here I am ready for death in the path of Allah,
so whoever desires martyrdom, let him follow me. Then the Muslims followed
their leader like the flood from the dam tearing down the obstacles of
Kufr until they entered the city and raised therein the word of monotheism...
In this manner fell the city of Heracle which stood stubbornly in front
of the Muslims for eight centuries... So they entered it erasing the Bizantine
government opening the doors of Europe for the call of Islam. They recorded
a white page in our history, realising the promise of the messenger of
Allah as when he was asked which of the two cities would be liberated first,
Constantinople or Rome, he said: "The city of Heracle (i.e. Constantinople)
would be liberated first."