Today, we are receiving a dear guest to our hearts, the memory of which has a great impact in the souls. It is the memory of the conquest of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine state, which was conquered on Tuesday 20th Jumada al-Awwal 857 AH corresponding to 29 May 1453 CE. Yes, Constantinople was conquered, and Rome was conquered; this is the phrase that we will hear from future generations, Bi’ithnillah Ta’ala. It says in the hadith: سُئِلَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَيُّ الْمَدِينَتَيْنِ تُفْتَحُ أَوَّلاً قُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةُ أَوْ رُومِيَّةُ؟ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم: «مَدِينَةُ هِرَقْلَ تُفْتَحُ أَوَّلاً – يَعْنِي قُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةَ» The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked, which of the two cities will be opened first, Constantinople or Rome?” RasulAllah ﷺ said, “The city of Heraclius will be opened first, meaning Constantinople.”, as narrated by Ahmed in his Musnad and corrected by Al-Hakim and Al-Dhahabi.
Efforts have been made available and the factors of victory, success, and clear conquest for the city of Constantinople were found, which are the same as the factors of victory for the conquest of Rome, with Allah’s permission, because the way of victory is one of the established ways of Allah; whenever the slave seeks it, his reward will be with the same kind of work. Whenever the causes of victory are achieved and their flowers fruits are ripe, the time comes to taste its sweetness. We recall these factors in an effort to remove the dust that the West dispersed on the Ummah of Islam in order to bury it and obliterate its identity and civilization after the Ummah of Islam, the best of a nation that is brought to people, has made a great way in lighting the world and the nations with the light of Islam after its people were overshadowed by the darkness of ignorance and the futile and incomplete man-made law, which will bring the Ummah to Its righteousness, to its Khilafah Rashidah (righteous Caliphate), which Allah Almighty promised and the Chosen Mustafa ﷺ gave its glad-tidings, as he gave the glad-tidings of the conquest of Constantinople and Rome soon, with Allah’s permission. We mention these factors to revive the determinations and inspire the meanings of glory, honor and dignity. The most prominent of these factors are:
1- The righteousness of the Sultan and his good upbringing on the basis of Islam, because by his goodness, the Ummah is good. “Allah establishes checks by the State authority on things for which check by Qur’an is not enough.” Al-Fateh, Rahimahullah, had been brought up in Islamic upbringing. He had been educated with the basic Shariah sciences such as the basic sciences of the Qur’an, Hadith and the Sunnah of the Prophet and jurisprudence, as well as Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages, as well as mathematics, astronomy, and history in which he was brilliant, in addition to his valor in equitation and martial arts, so, he deserved the praise of RasulAllah ﷺ: «لَتُفْتَحَنَّ الْقُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةُ، وَلَنِعْمَ الْأَمِيرُ أَمِيرُهَا، وَلَنِعْمَ الْجَيْشُ ذَلِكَ الْجَيْشُ». “You will open Constantinople, its Amir is the best Amir, and the best army is that army.”
This upbringing is due, after Allah’s grace, to his parents’ righteousness, who pushed him to learn from the best scholars and teachers such as Akshamsaddin Sungkar and Ahmad Ismail al-Kurani. This upbringing had an impact on causing him to grow in a good manner characterized by piety, awareness and courage, and this is what the next Sultan of Muslims must be endowed with so that he can apply Islam inside the state and carry it abroad through Dawah and jihad, unlike the rulers of Muslims today who share total ignorance, allurement of desires, cowardice, and dependence on the West.
2- Good management and organization of the State in the best way, especially financial matters. He, May Allah have mercy on him, has determined the state’s resources and the way to spend these resources in a way that prevents wastefulness, extravagance, indulgence and lavishness. He developed and reorganized the army battalions, set up soldiers’ records, increased their salaries and provided them with the latest available weapons, developed the administration of the provinces, approved some governors, dismissed those who had been found to be deficient, developed the royal court and provided it with administrative and military expertise, which worked to stabilize the state. After internal reform and the removal of internal rifts, he engaged wholly in foreign affairs and Islamic conquests, and this is a role that is not only important, but it is a vital for which the next Khaleefah (caliph) must take as a matter of life or death.
3- The scholars’ role in advising the Khaleefah, urging and inciting jihad, and calling for it always, and for fearing Allah and His obedience, and the application of Islam. The two esteemed scholars, al-Kurani and Akshamsaddin, had encouraged Al-Fateh, especially the latter, who was the spiritual inspiration for Al-Fateh to advance the movement of jihad and to always cultivat in his mind that he is the conqueror and that he is meant by the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ, and why not? for he has demonstrated piety, knowledge, courage and all the attributes that qualify him for this, for he who sows well shall reap well. This is how the Salaf (earlier) Ulama were, so what is the state of the Ulama of damage today? They combine the characteristics of hypocrisy, cowardice and desire, even at the expense of the Deen! Allah (swt) says: فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَـذَا مِنْ عِندِ اللّهِ لِيَشْتَرُواْ بِهِ ثَمَناً قَلِيلاً فَوَيْلٌ لَّهُم مِّمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَّهُمْ مِّمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ “So woe to those who write the “scripture” with their own hands, then say, “This is from Allah,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.” [Al-Baqara: 79]
So, woe to the scholars of the Sultan in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Tunisia and Pakistan.
4- He prepared a large army of 250,000 fighters who were well trained and equipped and proceeded to prepare forts and castles on the outskirts of Constantinople despite attempts by the Byzantine Emperor to dissuade Al-Fateh with funds and treaties from his intention to open Constantinople, so he built Rumeli Hissari fortress on the Bosphorus on the Europe side opposite to an Ottoman castle built on the Asian mainland at the time Sultan Bayezid II. He also collected weapons to demolish the forts and relied on engineers to develop the advanced artillery industry and recruited external expertise and overflowed them with money to reach his goal. The Hungarian engineer Urban developed the giant cannon, and Al-Fateh, Rahimahullah, increased the number of ships to 400 warships, which is what the Imam and the Khaleefah of the Muslims must do. وَأَعِدُّواْ لَهُم مَّا اسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن قُوَّةٍ وَمِن رِّبَاطِ الْخَيْلِ تُرْهِبُونَ بِهِ عَدْوَّ اللّهِ وَعَدُوَّكُمْ وَآخَرِينَ مِن دُونِهِمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَهُمُ اللّهُ يَعْلَمُهُمْ “And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged.” [Al-Anfal: 60].
5- Good management of the war. So, before his attack on Constantinople, Al-Fateh signed treaties and settled with his different enemies to devote himself to one enemy. He concluded treaties with the Eastern Emirate of Galata and a treaty with Hungary and Venice. This is to reduce the size of his enemies. This is what characterizes the ruler of Muslims in concluding treaties and agreements and good neighborliness, which Islam has permitted for the benefit of Muslims and not like the agreements concluded by Muslim rulers today with Kaffir states that aim to hand over Muslim countries to them!
6- The Sultan stands for the difficulties and their causes, finding proposals to solve them, choosing the most appropriate solutions, supervising this himself, and not despair of Allah’s mercy, and motivating the Ummah and the army for the great task. He faced three difficulties; the first is that Constantinople is surrounded with three seas from the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn protected by a very huge chain that controls the movement and passage of ships. The second difficulty is two lines of fences which surrounded the Sea of Marmara from the land side and between the two walls was a courtyard of 25 feet and the inner wall is 40 feet high, and it has towers of up to 60 feet high, while the outer wall is 25 feet high and it has towers full of soldiers distributed with them. So, from the military point of view it is impossible to penetrate them, and although there were 11 unsuccessful Islamic attempts to penetrate them, this did not cause Al-Fateh to despair, but he focused on resolving the difficulties. He pursued the enemy’s news and prepared the necessary maps to besiege it, in addition to the exploratory visits in which he witnessed the solidity of Constantinople and its fences and paving the way between Edirne and Constantinople in order to be fit to drag the giant cannons when he transported them with a unique genius. Yes, these cannons were transported from Besiktas to the Golden Horn across the road for a distance of three miles, where they were dragged and pulled on grease-coated wood, and 70 ships were transported away from the Galata neighborhood fearing for the ships from the southerners at night. The news was leaked to the Byzantines so that they could be terrorized, and this is from the political movement of the ruler in delivering some kind of news and not communicating others. So, a rumor spread that Constantinople would fall due to this sudden and catastrophic news for Byzantines.
7- Seeking Allah’s help and calling upon Him in humility parallel to the size of taking reasons and preparing equipment and ammunition. The Ameer Al-Fateh called upon Allah almighty and instructed his army to maintain prayer (Salat), remembrance (Dhikr), asking forgiveness (Istighfar), preparation, and supplication (Duaa), as well as reminded them and raised their spirits that they are the ones who are meant in the hadith of RasulAllah ﷺ when he said: «وَلَنِعْمَ الْجَيْشُ ذَلِكَ الْجَيْشُ» “and the best army is that army.” So, let it be you who wins the praise of Al-Mustafa ﷺ.” Yes, this clear victory was demonstrated yesterday, and it will be achieved when Rome opens, on the condition that the above factors are met. Without the Ameer of Constantinople, Constantinople would not have been opened, and if the conqueror Ameer of today is not available, Rome will not be conquered. Yes, so where are we from this Ameer? Where is the ruler, where is the divine caliph, with whom the attributes of knowledge, awareness, piety and courage have come together to conquer Rome? Or will Rome be opened by these regimes perched on our chests, the followers of the colonial West? How will the glad tidings of Rasullullah be fulfilled today? Does not this need the best Ameer?
Let us roll up our sleeves and establish it until we win what the first ones have won, so it will return for two reasons: The first is that it is the promise of Allah almighty, as He said in the His precise Book: وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُم فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَى لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا … “Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security, [for] they worship Me, not associating anything with Me…” [An-Nur: 55].
And He (swt) said: وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ “And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided” [Al-i-Imran: 103].
The gathering of the Ummah and rejection of division will only take place in the second Khilafah Rashidah (righteous Caliphate), as well as the glad tidings of RasulAllah ﷺ when he said: «ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافَةً عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ النُّبُوَّةِ» “Then there will be Khilafah according to the method of Prophethood.”.
As for the second reason, Islam will not exist except with Islamic unity, so nothing will save the Ummah today from the diaspora, division, evil, and domination of the West and its tails of the traitor rulers, as well as liberating not only Rome but the world as a whole from the injustice of the stinking capitalist ideology, nothing but the hard and tireless work to bring the Khilafah State. Yes, the first Islamic state was established by Rasulullah ﷺ and continued until 1924 CE, and this state will only return with factors that meet to establish it. For example, was Rasulullah ﷺ alone, or was there a group with him? Yes, Rasulullah ﷺ was not alone, but with him was his mass who were the companions who helped him achieve his goal, which is establishing a state to implement Islam, because there is no implementation of Islam without a state, and the proof for that is how Rasulullah ﷺ implemented Islam before its establishment in Mecca and how it became the case after its establishment in Medina. So, until we reach «وَلَنِعْمَ الْجَيْشُ ذَلِكَ الْجَيْشُ» “and the best army is that army.”, this group, which establishes the state of Islam, must have the following characteristics:
1- Understand Islam precisely and work to advocate it in reality without equivocation, favoritism, coercion or fear. It calls for it explicitly so as not to distort, transform or alter the Shariah rulings.
2- It does not receive support from the West and its followers, the rulers of Muslims, because by doing that it would sell its lofty goal for fear and for the sake of the world, and then there will be no place for it in the earth or in the heavens, and the Ummah will discard it as the nucleus of dates, just as the reality of the movements today in Muslim countries.
3- It follows the method of Rasulullah ﷺ in changing the reality so it calls for the ideas of Islam through convincing, dialogue and arguing in a way that is best, without hypocrisy and without carrying out acts of violence and without participating in the non-Islamic man-made regimes in Muslim countries.
4- It has a project to revive the Ummah and a constitution derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ that it realizes how to apply it in reality.
5- It leads the Ummah and takes care of it in accordance to the rulings of Islam and not in accordance to the capitalist, socialist, nationalist or sectarian laws and provisions.
6- It calls for Islam and its practical ideas everywhere, not in a specific country, i.e., the universality of the call.
7- Its members are Muslims and are committed to the rulings of Islam.
8- It seeks to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing the Khilafah.
The defect of today’s movements has been exposed, and they violated the previous conditions, so the Ummah abandoned them, and these movements made the situation worse after the Ummah did think well about them and thought that they were the way out of this affliction! Despite this calamity that afflicted the Ummah, it is looking for a way out until it finds and touches a party that has these specifications and standards. It will pursue it, welcome it and embrace it, for it desperately needs it because it is the one which shows the Ummah the path to its glory and revival, and takes it out of the state of adversity, hardship and misery.
The group today needs the popular support; the Ummah that embraces it and believes in its thought after its firm conviction in it, its call, its constitution, and its program stemming from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, as was the case of Al-Aws and Khazraj, who were the supporters of yesterday when they believed in the idea of Islam and sacrificed their precious things. Also the group needs strength like the army and the tribes i.e. the people of strength and support who will support the bloc and secure it for bringing Islam to power and then its application and implementation, as did Saad bin Moaz the great leader in the army of Ansar who brought Rasulullah ﷺ to power to govern by the rule of Islam. It also governs with a pure Islamic constitution in which there is no depression nor an elevation, for it is Allah’s law, the Lord of the worlds, which falsehood cannot approach it from before it or from behind it, the Almighty said: قُلْ هَلْ مِن شُرَكَآئِكُم مَّن يَهْدِي إِلَى الْحَقِّ قُلِ اللّهُ يَهْدِي لِلْحَقِّ أَفَمَن يَهْدِي إِلَى الْحَقِّ أَحَقُّ أَن يُتَّبَعَ أَمَّن لاَّ يَهِدِّيَ إِلاَّ أَن يُهْدَى فَمَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ “Say, “Are there of your ‘partners’ any who guides to the truth?” Say, “Allah guides to the truth. So is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed or he who guides not unless he is guided? Then what is [wrong] with you – how do you judge?”” [Yunus: 35]
Let you, O honorable Ummah, be a great nation that offers good initiative and embarks upon to. Let you, O armies in Muslim countries, be as Saad bin Muath, the supporter of Islam and the establisher of its state, and give victory to Hizb ut Tahrir. And let you, O people, be as Musab bin Omair, studying religion, learning it and calling for it.
May you, O the Ummah of Islam, be as Saad to support Islam and bring it to power, or be as Musab learning Islam and calling for it. And let you be, O the Ummah of Islam «وَلَنِعْمَ الْجَيْشُ ذَلِكَ الْجَيْشُ» “and the best army is that army”, so that we achieve the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ and we win the honor of the world and the Hereafter, and the words of Allah Almighty are fulfilled in us كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ “You were the best nations ever to be raised for mankind: you enjoin what is right (ma’roof), forbid what is wrong (munkar), and believe in Allah.” [Al-i-Imran: 110]
Ustadh AbdulRahman Al-Ameri – Yemen
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