In the period of Banu Ummayah, the ruler was Hazrat Muawwiyah and he decided to fight with the super power of the time, the Roman Empire. This struggle had already started in the time of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, with Ghazwa Tabook. Before the war, Hazrat Muawwiyah prepared a huge naval force and appointed a high salary to ensure more participation of the people. 2000 warships were prepared, and Jiyad bin Ummayyah r.a was appointed as the admiral, who was the most experienced and expert in his profession. He also prepared a large army, and stationed his battalions at the border. They were divided into 2 forces, a winter and a summer battalion. Their job was to fight against and resolve the Roman conflicts at the borders. The Greek islands and Verdis were set to be their naval headquarter.

In 48 Hijri, Muawwiyah decided to attack the Constantinople Sultanate and announced this in all the cities, including Makkah and Medinah. The following hadith was remembered by all the companions, the Prophet saw said, “The first battalion from my Ummah to fight against the Roman Empire, are all forgiven by Allah s.w.t.” –Bukhari. Therefore, from many of the companions including, Abdullah bin Umar r.a, Abdullah bin Zubayr r.a, Abdullah bin Abbas r.a, Hussain bin Ali r.a, and the host of the Prophet s.a.w Abu Ayyub Ansari r.a, joined the battalion, keeping the promise of forgiveness from Allah s.w.t in their mind. Sufyan bin Awf r.a was the one who led the army and Yazid bin Muawwiyah r.a was appointed as assistant general. One battalion took their route by sea and one by land and they besieged the city. This siege lasted 7 years, and they kept fighting during these years. The wall around the city was strong and impenetrable and so many lives of great sahabahs were lost. It was the time of 672 when a disease spread and many lives were again lost and intense cold took hold. During this time, the host of Prophet s.a.w Abu Ayyub Ansari r.a. passed away, and according to his wishes he was buried by the city wall. To this today, Istanbul is honored to have his shrine present and everyone can visit, and I also, have visited. The Muslims returned without victory. On the surface it looked like defeat but in reality the Muslims succeeded as the fear of attack from Romans was gone. The surrounding border areas were now under the control of the Muslim army. This victory was written by Allah at the hands of Sultan Mohammad Fateh, in 1453. The task started by Banu Ummayah was finished by the Usmaniyah Caliphate.
The second event of Islamic history that I’m impressed by is by the victory of Constantinople by Sultan Mohammad II. In 699H, Usman Khan started the Empire of Usman, he took over the Asian part of the Roman Empire and the South-East part of Europe and so expanded his rule. In 792H, the Christians from Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Hungary, worked together to attack the Usman Empire. Sultan Murad Khan despite having a small army, fought against them and won. After 50 years of Sultan Murad, rose another ruler, Sultan Muhammad the second, who was given the title of “Fateh,” for defeating Istanbul and was then known as Sultan Muhammad Fateh. It was April 22, 453 A.C. when he accomplished the mission of his father, Sultan Murad Khan. He started preparation for the siege by strengthening his army and implementing the use of canons on his ships to break down the walls of the city. He also improved his espionage system. Constantinople was surrounded by a wall and was populated on seven hills, the city was also surrounded by the Black sea on one side and Marmara sea on the other. He was an excellent strategist that when the cannon strategy did not work he created a new one where he made bridges to bring his ships closer to the walls of the city. One morning when the people of Constantinople woke up they were shocked and amazed, to find the ships close to their city, battle ensued and there was lots of blood shed on both sides but the Muslims came out victorious. The Sultan reached Hagia Sofia and prayed there and gave the order to convert it into a masjid. The Christians could not object to this, as they themselves 200 years ago had exiled Muslims from Spain and had converted Qurtaba masjid into a church.
Constantinople was changed to the name of Istanbul and it is now one of the most popular tourist destinations with all of the old architecture still preserved, with places like Topkapi palace, Blue mosque, Hagia Sofia, Dolmabachce palace, all present at the edge of Bosporus. Allah s.w.t gave victory in the hands of Sultan Mohammad Fateh. He was an ambitious person and had great administrative skills. He was also a lover of Allah, His Prophet and His book, an amazing scholar, expert in history, geography and astronomy and was fluent in many languages such as, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew and Latin and whenever he would go on a conquest, he would never tell his army the destination but would keep everyone ready. He also loved the pursuit of knowledge and in his lifetime many mosques and madrasahs were built. His shrine is still present in Turkey, enclosed by an old masjid.
We Muslims should endeavor to follow his example and adopt his qualities in order to raise Islam because Allah favors and grants victory to those who struggle and strive in the path of Allah and work to gain the knowledge of deen and dunya.