The Opening of Constantinople to Islam During the Osmanli Devlet

dari Changkat Ning

Introduction

Sultan Mehemmed II or famously known as Sultan Fatih were one of the most important Caliph in the Osmanli Devlet. One of his greatest contributions towards the spread of Islam is the opening of Constantinople to Islam. The city which is the capital of the Byzantine Empire for centuries, finally fall to Islam and mark the end of one of the oldest empire in human civilization. It is a very important city and its opening to Islam were mentioned in the Hadith of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) which clearly mentioned that the city of Constantinople will one day fall to Islam and will be open by a nice army lead by a nice commander.

The commander mentioned in the Hadith is certainly Sultan Fatih who command the opening of Constantinople to Islam. The pious Caliph of the Osmanli Devlet is not only superior academically, politically and militarily, but also religiously intelligent ; the criteria of a truth caliph of Islam. The opening of Constantinople really confirmed his superb leadership and his sacrifice in the way of Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him).

Past Attempt To Open Constantinople

The most notable and major attempt to open the city to Islam by an Osmanli caliph is in the period of Sultan Yildirim Bayezid Khan (1389-1402). Bayezid decide to open the city of Constantinople in order to spread the empire of Osmanli Devlet. His first attempt were disturbed by the Hungarians Empire who sent a big number of troops to attack the Islamic Devlet.

However, Bayezid managed to defeated the Hungarians in 1391 and the victory able him to resume the attack to the Byzantine’s capital which resulted the Byzantine have to accept a peace agreement with the Osmanli Devlet. Unfortunately, due to the a crusade by the Christians formed by the Pope, Bayezid were forced to lift the siege of Constantinople. After the victory against the Christians’ crusaders, he continued the siege with a new strategies; using blockade and at same time stop foods supplies to the city. The strategy were almost to its success until suddenly Timurlenk emerged in the East which caused lots of trouble to the Devlet. The problems of Timurlenk forced Bayezid to stop the attempt to open Istanbul . Constantinople were not open to Islam until the period of Sultan Mehemmed II Fatih in 1453, 64 years after Bayezid start his attempt to open the city to Islam.

The Siege by Sultan Fatih

On Friday, April 6, 1453 , the Osmanli gazis began their attack to captured Constantinople. They have to face a very difficult tasks in order to open the city as the city equipped with a very strong defense. The city were covered by a double layer high walls , 7 meter wide of moat around it. The army have to tackle these obstruction to able them to cross to the city. Although the walls along the Golden Horn are a bit weak compared to the other parts, the Byzantines managed to cover it by stretching a strong chain in the mouth of the gulf. This created a big problems to The Osmanli’s fleet to enter from The Golden Horn.

The first Osmanli’s attack were made in the night of 18th April by try to enter the city by digging holes through the walls . It was a fruitless attempt as the Byzantines defended well . On the other hand , the Byzantines managed strengthen their military capabilities when 3 Genoese ships sent by the Pope arrived in Constantinople on April 20.

The Osmanli Kapudan-i Derya ,Baltaoglu Suleyman Beg fought bravely with his men against the Genoese and were injured in the naval battle. The Genoese were superior than the Osmanli fleets because they have a very strong naval fleet compared to the Osmanli.Hence, the Osmanli navy failed to prevent the Christian navy. This resulted of the dismissal of Baltaoglu Suleyman Beg and was replaced by Hamza Beg as the commander of the navy.

Another attack by the Osmanlis began on the night of 21-22 April which included 70 ships from Tophane to Kasim Pasha the wooden slipway and into the Gulf to destroy the weaker walls of the city. This is a successful attacks and affected the moral of the Byzantines.

On May 6, 4 hours after sunset, another attack was started but unfortunately the attack unable to defeated the firm defence of the Byzantines . The failed attack did not demoralized the Muslims and the start another attack 6 days later (May 12) and this time the soldiers were successful to enter the holes that have been made earlier. However, the Byzantines sent more soldiers there and managed to stop the attacks.

18 brave soldiers lead by Ulubaldi Hasan try another attack by climbing the high wall but all of them were martyred . The bravery of these soldiers raised the moral of other soldiers and many of them climbs all those high walls to attack the Byzantines.

However, at the time when victory are almost in hand, some problems exist regarding to other parts of the Osmanli Devlet. Hungarian ambassadors arrived with news that Jan Hunyadi was dethrone by King Ladislas who planned to gather a large number of troops to attack Osmanli Devlet if the Muslim did not stop the siege. Sultan Mehemmed II seeks the opinions of his advisers and they came with various opinions. Cenderali Halil Pasha who have confronted the Christians in many battles feels that the Muslim should withdraw from the siege and concentrate on the Hungarians . In contrast with it , Spiritual Master of the Sultan, Sheyh Akshemseddin and Vezir Zaganos Pasha feels that it is worthwhile to presume the attacks against the Byzantines. They , finally came to the decision to resume the attacks towards the city of Constantinople.

The city of Constantinople were captured after the final attack before the subh prayer on Tuesday, 29th. May 1453; through Topkapusu Gate.The troops of the mujahid were victoriously enter the city that had for decades, stubbornly resisted many attacks of the Muslim.


After the Historic Victory

On the day of the opening of Constantinople to Islam, the young, 21 years-old Sultan Mehemmed II converted the Hagia Sophia Cathedral to a mosque and he leads the first juma’ah prayer there. He also offered a general amnesty to the city’s citizens and later on conveyed a big number of Muslims from Anatolia to the city. The next step is he appointed Gennadois , one of the most notable person there, as the Patriarch of the Orthodox. This mean that non-Muslims are free to perform their own religious beliefs. Then, with the help of his spiritual master, Sheyh Akshemseddin who help him identified the burial place of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari; he built a beautiful tomb and mosque in respect of the great companion of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Significance

The opening of the city marked the beginning of the Modern Era and the demolition of the Medieval Era as Osmanlis have made the city a metropolitan city in the sense that the citizens were treated equally and with justice regardless their religious belief or color of their skins in the city that were after the opening, rename Istanbol.For years later, Istanbul become an important center of Islam under the administration of the Osmanli Devlet.

As Sultan Fatih’s opening of Istanbul marked the end of the East Roman Empire, the Devlet now were regarded as the sole leader of the Muslims and at same time marked the declining era of the Mamluks and other small Islamic states .

Economically, the open of the city greatly benefited the Osmanli Devlet as it now controls the trades of silk and spice. The benefit were so great that managed the Devlet to strengthen its power and used the money to improve the Devlet.

For the Christians, the opening of the city really shocked them as they have to face greater military, spiritual , economy and social conflicts against the Osmanlis. They have to find ways to break the monopoly of the Muslims in those fields.

Conclusion

The conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Sultan Fatih formally ushered a new era , that of the empire of Osmanli. The Caliph installed himself astride the Bosphorus with one foot in Asia and the other in Europe . His expanding domain made him heir not only to Byzantine but also, through the destruction of the Mamluk power, the successor states of the Arab caliphate. The inheritance of lands from both East and West had its counterpart in the inheritance of ideas , and the combined heritage is perhaps the most pregnant fact in the history of the Osmanli Devlet.