Tomorrow marks the 556th year, Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh (or Mehmet Fateh Sultan as the Turkish calls him) conquered Constantinople, the modern day Istanbul, which brought the great Byzantine Empire to its end. Constantinople was at that time the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire or known to historians as the Byzantine Empire, and was the strongest Christian vanguard. The fall of Constantinople was prophesied by Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H in a hadeeth narrated by Imam Ahmad;

لتفتحن القنسطنطنية فلنعم الامير اميرها، ولنعم الجيش ذلك الجيش

Constantinople will be conquered by the best leader with the best of armies.

The first expedition to conquer Constantinople started during the reign of Yazid son of Muawiyah and one of the notable participants of this holy expedition was Saidina Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, a companion of Prophet Muhammad, who martyred at the gates of the great city. Thereafter there were 5 more expeditions before the final one, lead by the greatest of leaders, commanding the greatest of armies — Sultan Muhammad the Conquerer, at the young age of 21!

Although Sultan Muhammad was born to a royal family, his father Sultan Murad handed him to be nurtured and trained by the great scholar and sufi saint, Syeikh Shamsuddin al-Wali, to be brought up according to the Islamic discipline and scholarly knowledge. So great was the training and teaching of Syeikh Shamsuddin that not only that Sultan Muhammad never missed a compulsory prayer (salat fardhu) since he became baligh, he also never missed the sunat rawatib and even more astonishing, he never missed his tahajjud prayers since he became baligh!

But to be a perfect leader one not only needs to be spiritually excellent, one also needs to the worldly knowledge. Sultan Muhammad was also a great mathematician and was said to have invented the best canon of the time which the cannon ball alone weighs over 300kg and could be projected over a distance of 1 mile.

And the perfection does not end there. This unparalleled leader was made even greater by his army whose discipline is unprecedented. In preparation for his conquest, Sultan Muhammad stood before his army and asked them, “Those who have never missed a compulsory prayer since baligh please stand,” and all of his armies stood. He then followed by a second question, “Those who never missed a rawatib prayer since baligh please stand,” and alsmot all stood. And the final question, “Those who have never missed a tahajjud prayer since baligh please stand,” and he was the only one standing. A leader who has never missed tahajjud since baligh is leading an army who all of them has never missed a compulsory prayer and most of them never missed a rawatib prayer — truly this is a perfect combination. Such spiritual excellence! When will the world ever see a second Muhammad al-Fateh and his formidable army?