Press Release
On the Anniversary of the Conquest of Constantinople

The Campaign Launch entitled "Conquest of Constantinople Glad Tiding was Achieved... to be Followed by Glad Tidings!"
(Translated)

Constantinople... that city and its famous walls, that was planted in the minds of Muslims.

Overcoming the walls was considered a great goal and a grand prize that will be won only by those who deserve the praise of the prophets.

That capital which documented on the day it was opened at dawn, on the twentieth of Jumada al-Awwal 857 AH, a brilliant page in the history of the Islamic Ummah. A page that has become a memory that deserves to be reviewed whenever the Ummah faces difficulties it cannot overcome.

And why wouldn’t it be so? For it’s a page from the history from of the Ummah that the Messenger of Allah (saw) praised, and drew attention to, and has chosen it from a set of milestones and lessons that he has selected for us, from our history and from our future, so that we can return to them in the critical hours? He (saw) said: «لَتُفْتَحَنَّ الْقُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةُ فَلَنِعْمَ الْأَمِيرُ أَمِيرُهَا وَلَنِعْمَ الْجَيْشُ ذَلِكَ الْجَيْشُ»“Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!”

For this reason, and at this critical moment through which the Islamic Ummah is passing, we chose to launch a campaign on the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople to view in depth the "men and conditions" of that blessed event, so we can draw from it what illuminates the way for the Ummah today.

As for the men... the cause of fulfilling the glad tiding of the Messenger of Allah (saw) of opening the city of Hercules was the primary concern of the men of that generation. Amir Muhammad al-Fatih and his father Sultan Murad II and his two teachers, the jurist Ahmad bin Ismail (Saeed) Al-Kurani and Sheikh Akshamsaddin and with them the army of Muslims in that part of the lands of Islam, have all realized that the issue of their time was the conquest of Constantinople, and that it must be their primary issue that concerns them, and not compromised by any other issue, and that all issues fall below that issue. How can they not realize this when they have read the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (saw) that says:

»  لَتُفْتَحَنَّ الْقُسْطَنْطِينِيَّةُ...« “You shall conquer Constantinople...”

Thus it became for them the commandment of the Prophet (saw) and the mother of all issues that the souls will be sacrificed for.

Muhammad Al-Fatih, who was 21 years old, and with him his army of fighters and specialists, were exerting their best efforts to take good advantage and use the means that Allah (swt) permitted to Muslims. They studied and searched the means and the methods until Allah (swt) guided them to the best way and the most effective. Allah opened the ways for them, with what He did not give to anyone who preceded them in the Ummah. They made the greatest cannons of their time! And dragged the sea ships over the mountains! And they built fortresses in the land of their enemy in record times. They surprised their enemy and turned the table on them in all their actions and precautions.

As for the conditions, Sultan Muhammad Al-Fatih had an Islamic state that organized the Ummah’s powers and energies through its apparatus, so he was able to extract the best of its energies, experiences, and abilities and harness them in achieving its goals in order to achieve his goal.

And this state enjoyed the elements of the state that pleases Allah and His Messenger (saw). Sovereignty in it was for the Shariah law, the law of Allah (swt) was the first and the last thing to be referred to in all affairs of the Ummah, and neither the Byzantine state nor its law nor the law of any kufr state had a say in the matters of legislation within Muslim countries.

The Sultan was autonomous from any external influence, that is, the military and security force protecting the land had its exclusive loyalty to the Islamic Ummah, and no foreign country had any influence over the ranks of the Islamic military and security forces.

The political medium was one that follows Islam and its loyalty was to Islam and Muslims and did not take into account any civilization, except the Islamic civilization, and did not take from foreign countries except what Islam permits it to take, from the technical aspects such as weapons technology.

The country's economy was based on its own economic powers, its currency was gold and silver, and its economy was not linked or dependent on any foreign country.

The Ummah’s primary issue in this era

Today, the effort, the will, the expertise, the energies, the capabilities, the resources and the willingness to sacrifice, all exist among the sons of the Islamic Ummah, but they are scattered and disorganized, on the contrary most of them are being exploited and harnessed for other than the interests of Muslims. The first reason for this is the absence of an Islamic state that governs with Islam and protects the interests of the Islamic Ummah.

Due to all this, the primary issue of the Islamic Ummah in this era has become the issue of restoring the Islamic state, the Khilafah Rashida State (righteous caliphate), on the method the Prophethood.

With this, we announce, in the name of Allah, and upon His blessings, the launch of a global media campaign entitled, "Conquest of Constantinople Glad Tiding was Achieved... to be Followed by Glad Tidings!"

Remembering with the Islamic Ummah that great anniversary and reminding them of what is greater, namely, the fulfillment of the glad tiding of the Messenger of Allah (saw) by establishing the second Khilafah Rashida (righteous caliphate), on the method of the Prophethood.

Allah (swt) says:

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ]

“O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.” [Al-Anfal: 24]

Engineer Salah Eddine Adada
Director of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir