Adnan Rashid – Ottoman Treasures of Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia
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AI: Transcript ©
These slaves were bought from slave markets, and they were
trained into basically, military arts. They would be educated. They
would become very loyal subjects to the Sultan. The reason why
Sultan would buy slaves from slave markets is because he could not
trust his own clan, his cousins, his uncles, his own sons. They
would rebel against the Sultan, so he needed Die Hard supporters. You
cannot sleep in that palace. You cannot sleep in that palace if you
don't feel safe, and you can only feel safe when you know someone is
protecting you from your enemies. So the Sultans would have their
own Die Hard elite guards. Okay, tell me how many Roman emperors
were killed by the guards.
So many, so many. The first people the Roman emperors were scared of
were their own guards. Because if they so, if they sell out, they
can easily execute so many Roman emperors were executed by their
guards, right? So likewise, the Sultans would not trust anyone. So
when they bought these slaves, they were conditioned from a very
young age to be loyal to the Sultan. Okay, there is
conditioning taking place everywhere, in every culture, in
every part of the world. Okay, people get conditioned
into loving things that are not really important, right?
Nationalism is a type of conditioning when people are
taught to love a particular country, right, because of the
borders drawn by a colonial administrator, right? Okay, so we
can get conditioned just like that. Conditioning. Can
work for many different ends. So Sultans used this, this method
very effectively. So these young men were conditioned to be loyal
to the Sultan. So this is why they became the Elite Guard. And guess
what? This elite group was one of the reasons why the Ottoman Empire
fell as well.
Eventually, no, the Janissaries eventually, they rebelled against
the Sultan, and they had to be crushed. They had to be this order
had to be dismantled, okay? And maybe Muhammad you can talk more
about the the what happened to janissaries and why they were
crushed. Yeah, you know. So they were pretty strong, and whenever
they got a chance, they, like, the first, one of the first and
important examples about the Mohammed alfati When he was a
young, you know, like 14 years old. So his father, Murad the
second, wanted to say, you know, okay, I just wanted to relax more
and focus on, you know, like, be a little bit more isolated and live
in a peace. So you can sit on the throne, you can be the new sultan,
and I just want to rest. So this is what happened. He's the only
Sultan, and Muhammad Al fati was the only one. He was 14. But you
know, he couldn't get the, what you say,
the respect of the people around him that was pretty hard,
especially the chandala. Khalid Pasha, never wanted him to be in
the in a throne, you know, like, what happened then, actually, he
just wanted to prepare for a war, and he actually decreased the
silver level of the coins that he was striking. And then, you know,
like any Momo Janissary getting the free action and going to the
store to buy something, but the guy says, No, you have to pay 3.5
he says, why? Says, because the silver level is reduced. And they
got crazy. And then they upright.
They say each buchu Tepe Aya clan master, which means, like, the 3.5
Hill. What'd you say?
Yeah, 3.5 Hill uprising. Why they called it? Because in adirne there
was a one hill, and that was the location that Muhammad afati said,
Okay, I'm rising your salary to 3.5
Akshay.
It's like 20% of a rise of the salary, and they stop. So this is
not the first time. And so many things happened before by the
Janissaries, even on the war, they got pretty exhausted in the army
of the vices, the 3.5 a day, right? No, mom, 3.5 was very
small,
a very small silver coin, so, but probably a day. I think it must be
a day because it was a very small silver coin. I have them very
little tiny. Maybe it's another money or, yeah, maybe, maybe
three, maybe wouldn't be gold, yeah, yeah, okay, we'll check it
out. Yeah, maybe that was enough for them for that possibly. And
yes, they weren't living in London, yeah,
because the prices are very high. Yeah, right, for sure. So and
then, and.
Other uprising happened. I don't have number of the Janissaries.
What you say uprising? And then the Mahmoud, the second was the
one who actually canceled the Janissaries, and he killed them,
by the way, like he, he supported the public people. That was really
hard task. He supported the public people. They said, those guys are
the reason why we are in this position. When they have when they
have power, when they are powerful, they actually can change
anybody. I mean, they just dethrone any Sultan and put the
Sultan that they want to use. You got it, and that's why they just
killed by Mahmoud the second down there, I can say, like it's
nearby. Kuchukaya, Sofia, it's like 25 meters away from here. And
genocides are done. And then he nearly built a new, what you say,
team as called ASA Kiri, mansourai, mohammedia, so asakir,
means soldiers of asakir. Mansuri. Mansoor, victorious, yeah.
Victorious, victorious. Muhammad, yeah. So, like the soldiers of the
Muhammad Sallallahu said, Yeah, this what happened, because they
just Yeah. So
the summarize, the summarize, janissaries were one of the most
fierce military element within the Ottoman army. This was the elite
force, the Commandos, if you if you know today's terminology, SS
Special Services Group, or SSG, in Pakistani army, we have SSG, the
commandos and SSA in the British Army. SSA, is that what they call
SAS. SAS, right? The elite force janissaries were the elite force
of the Ottomans. They would be unleashed at the end. They would
be the last and the final weapon in the battlefield when the
Sultans were fighting armies. But then, once they turned on the
Sultans, they became the biggest threat. That's why Mahmoud the
second decided they have to go. They have to be dismantled. They
have to be completely, you know, removed from power. They were
killed in large numbers. Okay, so
this happened many times throughout the history of many
similar dynasties. This happened in Mughal India. When the Mughal
emperors became puppets into the hands of
similar military factions, they started to put the king. And when
the king is not towing the line, they would remove him and put
someone else in his place. So this game, when this starts to happen,
the decline is very, very close.
The decline is very, very close. So when military factions or
military groups become so strong that they are now challenging the
king and his authority, then the king becomes powerless, because
the Kings, Sultans rely on the strength of the military. That's
why generals have to be working with the king the Sultan. If they
work against the Sultan, then you have civil wars and destruction.
Okay, so janissaries were a very important part of the Ottoman
army, but unfortunately, they had to be dismantled because the
Sultans were being threatened by them. They were using their power
and influence to threaten the Sultans. Okay, let's keep moving
towards now. I want you all to see the roof here. This is where the
Sultans would actually come in, okay, where the people are coming
in from. And then go to their palace. We will see the audience
hall, where the Sultans would receive delegations. And we will
see the decoration there as although this is so lavish, this
is unbelievable, 18th century. This is from the 18th century.
Okay, let's go, by the way, you know, I have to give really quick
information about where we are right now. This is the Diwan
square. All right, so a dalet may done it justice square as well.
And you can see the kitchen on your right side. All right, so
it's big kitchen. It's called means kitchen. The kitchen is on
the right side there, right on my right there, over there. Okay,
yeah, this kitchen will be for the palace, palace complex, yeah,
yeah. So they were cooking for 3000 to 5000 people every day,
even the Haram people, like ladies and we get the food from this
kitchen, but not the salt. So this was a grand operation in itself.
It's like running a five star or seven star hotel, because the food
had to be top of the range.
The food for Sultan's and his family office obviously would be
cooked differently to the guards and the servants of the palace. So
5000 5000 people, they were cooking almost 5000 people. So
that gives you an idea how many people were actually working in
the palace. So the palace complex housed nearly 5000 people, that
includes the Sultan's family, his extended families, and the
servants and all the guards and everyone 5000
And people within this compound, imagine how busy this place would
have been at that time. Subhanallah, yeah, exactly. And
also, you can see the stone right here, and there's another stone
behind us, which there's a table. As you know, the ceremonies are
too important for vitamins, yeah, you know the soldiers were
standing in here, but that stones for the Wazir, right? Okay. Like
any soldier mistakenly, you know, like, stand there, yeah, he can be
beaten by the other Okay, wow. So, like the leader, okay, so, and
this is the justice tower, all right, as the very first day we
saw it from Hotel. So, yeah, the they called justice tower, but in
Turkey, we call it Castra Adil, same thing, all right. So they are
trying to give the message for us, the justice is the most important
thing. And top of the everything, all right, and this is the
Imperial council that the Ottomans held,
okay, so we're gonna go inside the collections. Now, yes, we're gonna
go inside the collections now, after this, we will go to exterior
treasure to see the
next one. Okay, so that's the next one. That's what the swords are,
right. Next Door, that's one. This is cloth things, right. Okay, so
we are now entering, this is the the Hall of Justice,
Imperial Council, where they would do,
yes, Diwan, it's like a it's like a court.
So would the Sultan be sitting there in the
middle? So he was also for the Sultan.
And also, you know, like, usually 99% of the meetings, yeah, was
held without Sultan sitting right there. So Sultan would be watching
from top, yeah. So this is where the council is taking place, the
vazirs and the ministers and generals. They are discussing
state affairs in this Diwan in this court. And sometimes Sultan
would be present, personally, physically on that couch there.
But most of the time the Sultan would be watching, listening from
that gallery there, okay, and the Council. This is, this is one of
the ways of the Sultans, ensuring that they are all on their toes.
They are doing their work diligently, because they don't
know if the Sultan is sitting there and listening. They don't
know. Okay, so it's a sort of fear of the Sultan that that they would
be very careful while discussing matters in this court, in this
divan, right? So the Sultan would be sitting there behind the
screen, sometimes listening, and when he has to intervene, he would
intervene, right? But he may not be there, and there are councils
taking place the whole day, and they don't know if the Sultan is
there, right? So,
no, no. He would come from the palace, from the Haram, from haram
is behind. He would come from the Haram, and if he wants to,
so he would sit there for half an hour, one hour, five hours, three
hours up to his if it's something important being discussed, he
would be here. But the point is, the point it's actually talking
about. It's not the king, it's the Viziers. When we see the
ambassadors, they're outside. Yes, this is, this is the hall of
audience, like they would and they would do mashwara. They would
discuss state affairs. So, so the Sultan would be sitting up there.
But the point is, as far as the as far as the people, as far as the
people discussing state affairs and matters are concerned, the
Sultan is present all the time because they don't know if he's
there, right? So they have to be very diligent. They have to be
very careful. So, so, as they say, you know when you manage a company
or when you manage
a project, your staff or your subordinates, they must think,
they must think that you are watching. You are always there,
and you can turn up anytime to check on them. Right? This is when
you get performance. This is when you get real performance. Okay, so
this is all information
about the architect. As you can see, on the left side is the
classical architecture. On the right side, you can see the Neo
Baroque Turk trococo style architecture lately, period, like
after
the 18th century. I mean 19th century, we can say so, huh? With
this one, this one, this one is off, yeah? Mine.
Okay, so. And also, I can say that you can see like one wall is
hanged, yeah, right
the other side as
well. So that ball is as decorated ball, and it symbolize the
universe like they are giving the message we are
ruling
universe from right here.
Is, there is a collection of clocks in there, but we have
something better to look at. Yeah, now we are on the way again,
again. Guys, in this palace, you can spend an entire day you still
haven't seen everything. Okay, but we're going to take you to the
most what we think is the most important for you to look at.
Inshallah, let's go.
It's called, it's called the Treasury. It's called the
Treasury. Okay, this is one of the best arms collections in the
world. As you will see, there are some amazing pieces, absolutely
amazing pieces in there. Okay, so the the, this is the private
collection of the Sultans of weapons. And
amazing, magnificent things in there.
Okay,
the ceremonial swords. These are ceremonial swords mostly, and some
of them are personal, personal weapons of the Sultans. Okay, you
can see they are gold plated. There is a lot of gold decoration
on them. They are carved. There is calligraphy.
Okay, so they are absolutely magnificent. Sultan
Salim,
the third Sultan, Abdul Hamid, the first. These are some of them are
ceremonial swords. Keep moving with us. Inshallah, keep moving
with us. This.
Keep looking around. You see these are, these are actually not
weapons to fight in wars. These are ceremonial weapons. That's why
they are so lavishly decorated. They would be carried for
ceremonies. They are studied with rubies and emeralds and
potentially diamonds. They are gold. They are pearls and gold
decorated. So these are ceremonial weapons. They wouldn't be used in
war.
Okay? This is, yes, this is nalene, the footprint of the
Prophet sallallahu, sallam. It represents. So they carrying it in
the battle. Okay? They are trying to get the message like we are
performing the footprint of our Salalah. Yes, okay. So you can
see, these are mostly ceremonial weapons, but they are absolutely
amazingly produced. A lot of hard work has gone into them. They are
gold lit. This is again, the footprint of the Prophet
sallallahu sallam. It represents the footprint of the Prophet
sallallahu. The Prophet sallallahu Sallam there.
Yeah.
So if you want to see nunchucks,
then this is what Ottoman nunchuks would look like. Yeah.
They would be used to smash heads.
Okay? All these are very creative weapons of war.
But then again, when you look at them, they are so lavishly
decorated. They are they are studied with rubies and emeralds.
They wouldn't be used in war. If they were used in war, these, they
would shed rubies and diamonds.
Subhanallah,
okay,
this sword is something very special.
This is Sultan by Is it the second? This is his sword. And you
can see now, this is what gulfar may have looked like. Possibly.
You see, people think gulfar was a two edged sword, but this is also
two edged you can see both sides are sharpened, and it's very
curvy, wavy, right? It was deliberately made like that. It's
a very creative design. It belonged to Sultan by Yazid the
second, the son of Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih. Okay, let's go
inshallah.
Now, if we start to focus on every single piece here,
every single piece is a is a masterpiece, so we would not
possibly be able to discuss
every single piece here.
Okay? So here we have some of the swords of the Sultans. Okay, okay.
In Turkish, the sword is called kilij, kilij kilij, or kilij kilij
kilich. Okay. In in our Persian in India, is called kilij. We had
names people who were called kilij. Okay, kilij, kilij al par
Salam, there is kilij. Are salan? Yes, absolutely. So kilij was a
very common name among Turks. It still is today. It means a sword.
Okay, so a sword is called kilich. You can see these swords belong to
the Sultans. Which one is Sultan Suleiman, Sultan all of these are
Sultan Suleiman's personal swords. Sultan Suleiman.
Swords of Sultan. These are Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih sword. Sultan
Fatih. Which one That one over there? So these are the swords of
Sultan.
Muhammad Al Fatih, okay, absolutely amazing. And these are
Sultan suleimans, again, to emphasize the point, these are for
ceremonial reasons. They are not used in war, okay, they were not
meant to be used in war. Although they are real swords, they cut. If
they were used in war, they would kill, they would cut right. The
blade is very sharp because it's made as a real sword. But then
there is a lot of gold and decoration on it, because the
Sultan would be carrying it with him, because he's the Sultan,
right? His sword has to be the best.
And this is,
this is a very important sword. Everyone very, very famous, very
important sword. And again, this is not for war. This is again, a
symbol of victory, of Constantinople. So this is called
sultanate Fateh, okay, okay, so the text on the sword, you can see
so lavishly decorated. This Calligraphy is absolutely mind
blowing, even to write it with your own hand on paper. It's not a
joke, but to inscribe it on a sword, okay, made of metal, and
then polish it with gold, real gold. This is real gold, by the
way. This is something else. So what does the inscription say? It
reads, Bismillah Rahman or Rahim.
Praise be to Allah Almighty, who blesseth religious faith with
lustrous and lucid verses and sharp and shining swords, Salat
and salaam upon our noble Prophet, Muhammad, sallAllahu, Sallam and
his household, who are attributed with the most exquisite, Lucent
words bless and strengthen Muhammad, the second son of Murad
the second, the poignant sword that is drawn in the name of
jihad, the Sultan of ghazis and Mujahideen that striveth to glory
the Holy men of Allah may the necks of the enemies of Shariat
becometh the scabbard of his sword. Shed your grace on the ink
of his pen, son of Usman, son of Orhan, son of Murad, son of
Bayazid, son of Muhammad. May Allah cleanse them with the
heavenly waters that streameth by the swords of ghazis and place
them under the shadow of swords in heaven. Amin jarab, Alameen,
so this is the content on that sword,
absolutely amazing. It's one of the greatest treasures of the top
kabhi Palace, among many other objects we will see inshallah in
due course. But this sword is actually Sultan Muhammad the Fatih
sword mentions his name and the entire line of the Ottoman
Sultans, and may Allah bless them, may Allah reward them, may Allah
give them janatal prakdos. I mean,
let's go, keep moving. Inshallah. Oh, this is the map. This is the
Ottoman map which we discussed earlier, which was very accurate
that it blew the minds of the European cartographers later on.
Okay. You can see how Spain has been drawn, very accurately. Okay,
this is where Spain and Morocco meet.
SubhanAllah. This is an ottoman map from the 16th century, from
the 16th century. Okay, Allahu, Akbar. Let's go
so you can see some of these gifts came to the Sultans. These are
Japanese weapons, okay, Katana, if I'm not mistaken, these are
katanas, okay?
And they were known for the sharpness, okay, there are some
other swords.
Safavid swords, these, many of these came as gifts to the
Sultans, and now they are kept in the museum. Sultan
kansu, okay, European. These are European swords taken in
Okay. Sultan Oh, okay, sort of console, okay, okay,
okay, okay, okay.
The Mohave, the sahari, okay,
so
this is a very important sword, and these are very big swords, you
can see,
and they were captured by Ottomans in battles. Okay, these swords
were taken. These taken were these swords were taken by Ottomans in
battles, okay, by the way, this, if you ask, like, is this? You
Yes, this, yes, they were holding like they would, they would swing
it. They would swing it. And anyone on the way would get cut,
would be split into two halves, right? So these were, again, a.
Taken in battles by Ottoman Sultans. Now look at these
helmets,
very lavishly decorated helmets. These are Safavid. Safavid, yeah,
but they are very distinctively Islamic helmets.
Islamic helmets from the Seljuk period onward. They looked very
similar to this, right? They went on to they were used as late as
the early 19th century
in battles and wars. So long as they were swords and conventional
weapons were being used traditional weapons for those
times. Let's see how the Janissaries swore this right, be
the Ottoman made
Turkmen. Right? This.
So this is, if you look at these,
these are weapons used by
this is what their chain mail would look like. This is basically
the guard, the protection against swords and spears, right? Let's
keep moving. Inshallah. This is the most important word that we
have to know. The Ottomans use. As you can see, it's pretty what you
say, short Yes, and it's hot inside. I mean, it's sharp inside,
but the outside is pretty thick. Yes, they can even defend
different technology. Yes, very, very powerful, very effective
reference, yes, because it's shorter and it's more effective.
Yeah,
to explain every single piece it's
so again, most of these weapons are not necessarily used for war.
Most of them, not all of them,
because they belong to the Sultan's personal collections, and
you can see how decorated they are, how much so much gold on
them. This is because the Sultans, they would use them for ceremonial
purposes. Let's go. We're leaving the hall.
So now, now we're going to make our way to the Haram of the
Sultans, where the Sultan's private chambers were, where they
lived with the ladies of the household. And Inshallah, we're
going to go and see that
on that note, Inshallah, we'll
continue in the Haram. Inshallah, I'm right now in the Haram section
of the top copy palace where the Sultan's ladies lived, his wives
and concubines, they would live around this courtyard. We have
been through the slave section. We have been through the eunuch
section. You can see there are those sections, and you come on
the tour with us. Next time you want to come and visit these
places, join the tours, and you can check out the dates on Halal
getaways.com. Halal getaways.com
you can check out the future days for Turkey, for Spain, from
Morocco. I'll be there on those tours. Personally. You can join
the tour I am personally leading as a historian. And this is Top
copy Palace, the Harim section, where the ladies of the Sultan
were kept, as it is clearly stated, is dubbed the paved
courtyard of the Sultan's wives and concubines. This space
constitutes the Imperial harems, smallest courtyard built in the
mid 16th century. It was repaired after suffering a fire that
impacted the Haram in 1665 so initially, this was built by the
orders or by the the, you know, the desires of wish of Quran
Sultan, also known as roxalana, the favorite concubine and then
wife of Sultan Suleiman, the magnificent so
few centuries ago, you would see the ladies of the Sultan walking
around here. And you know, this would be the courtyard for, okay,
here we are in the Sultan's bath. Okay, his Hamam. This would be the
Sultan's personal Hammam in the top copy palace, where the Sultan
would come and bathe. You have tubs. You have a bathtub there
made of marble. You have water supply. So the Sultan would pour
water on top of himself. So this is, if you think about it, a
Sultan who rules pretty much half the world, half the world he's
bathing in here. And if you think about it, it's not too lavish. We
have people today who are middle class,
you know, from the middle class background, their washrooms, their
toilets, are bigger than this, yes or no, right? So imagine, at that
time the kings for them. This would be something amazing. Okay,
today, most people in the world, and I'm not exaggerating, today
in.
The 21st century, most people in the world have more access to
objects and things and luxuries than kings had at that time.
Today, honey is easily available. Any shop you walk in there, you
buy a honey, you have a you have you buy a bottle of honey, right?
Or you can buy best and the cleanest bread you can eat. Right
in those days, these things were not easily available. Honey was a
very expensive commodity, okay? And clean running water. This
wasn't available to the whole world, until very recently, people
would draw water from wells. Sometimes it was muddy. Right now,
there is clean flowing water from our taps at home, right we have
sofas, we have TV lounges, we have cushions, we have beds, and we
have so many luxuries. A normal person, middle class person living
in a place like Dubai, London, maybe Toronto or New York, you may
have a better life when it comes to lifestyle and living standard
than some of the kings in the past. So if you look, think about
it, this place is not so lavish, considering the amount of
territory this Sultan ruled, half the world, half the world. This
could
have been you. Yes, yes, absolutely. But they don't need
more than this one person. The Sultan himself is bathing here.
This is enough for the Sultan. His army is not bathing here. So he's
only it's only one person. So this is just a perspective. I wanted to
show that some of you, when we say, Oh, we don't have enough, we
don't really live a good life. You don't know what you're talking
about.
It's It's so, so important to be grateful to Allah, to be thankful
to Allah for what you have, the fact that you have transparent
water in your glass and you drink it, the fact that you can have
clean bread,
and the fact that you have fans on top of you figure about ACA and
air conditioning, they say themselves you cannot thank Allah
for,
yes. I mean, in some places the world still, people live very
basic lives, right? But even they have more access to objects and
substances. Then the Sultans did. They still have soap that has
perfume on it, right? You can use perfume, okay? And smartphones.
You go to any African village, people will be carrying a
smartphone. The Sultans didn't have access to this stuff, right?
So we have to thank Allah for giving us lives like Sultans would
have lived in the past. Seriously, no joke, because that's this is
all you need. You need a room to sleep in. You need a clean toilet,
right? You need it like clean living room, and you need a
library, like, like I do. Okay, Alhamdulillah, this is the
Imperial Hall, having come through the Haram, having come through the
the Sultan's Hamam or his his bath. We are in the Imperial Hall.
This was built by Sultan Murad, the third, the grandson of Sultan
Suleiman, the magnificent. It was built in 1585, it's absolutely
amazingly decorated. As you can see gold all over it. That's where
the Sultan would sit in the middle, and this would be his,
you know, sitting place.
And if you look on the top, it's nicely decorated. There are verses
in the Quran or names of Allah. They say, visman, Rahim,
Alhamdulillah, Kareem, or Rahim al Kadhim al Hakim, Al Hazim, Allahu,
Aziz al Jabbar, Allahu Akbar. So this is absolutely amazing. We're
going to make our way to the remaining part of the palace. This
is the private chamber of the Sultan. That's where the Imperial
Hall is. We just showed you the Imperial Hall. The Sultan would
walk in here, and this would be the private chamber of the Sultan.
He would rest here. He would be with his family. This is the
fireplace, okay, where, in winter, fire would be burning to keep the
whole hall warm. And look at the tile work. It's unbelievable. It's
so beautiful. The Ottomans had this distinctive style of ceramic
tile work, and we saw some of it in Bursa as well. Sorry. In Iznik,
tile work actually originates from Iznik, the city of Iznik, and you
can see it has been used excellently in this particular
Hall, this is where the Sultan would sit
for his private time. He would spend time here. There's water
running through in the hall would be very relaxing. So he would be
spending time with his family here inshallah. Let's go. This is
where, in this courtyard, the favorite wives, or the concubines
of the Sultan, would be kept in these rooms in this courtyard
overlooking the city of Istanbul Constantino.
Pool. So they have a view of the sea as well. So this is a very,
very special place. This is where the favorite ladies of the house
of the Sultan would be kept. There is a dummy there. You can see
through the window, they would be looking over the city of
Constantinople. Galata Tower is very visible from here. You can
see, okay, there is a small pool down there.
Okay,
right,
right. So this is a very special place. It's not a small pool, it's
a very big pool. Was there water in here once upon a time? Clearly,
there was what was filled Yeah, yeah, it was filled with water.
Okay, so this is a very important place in the Haram of the Sultan
and
the Sultan's ladies would be kept here.
Sorry, on the board over there, it's mentioning
how
right? So they would be moved here? Yeah, yes, absolutely,
absolutely. So here the order of the Haram was depended on the
purpose of ensuring the continuity of the Ottoman dynasty, the women
who had engaged in a relationship with the Sultan were named gozdeh
favorite if they gave birth to the Sultan's child, they were granted
the authorization and title of Iqbal or qadin
wife.
The mebien apartment was built for the Sultans during the period of
Sultan Asmaa the third in the 18th century. The paved courtyard of
maybe in was open to women after the apartment of favorites was
constructed in the mid 18th century. So this is quite late.
Yeah. You can, Inshallah, give
me so, so. So this was clearly, this belonged to the ladies of the
Sultan's house, and it was a very, very important quarter. Maybe this
is where some of the Sultans played in this courtyard with
their mothers in
Egypt,
in Cairo, no no, not Mamluks in Egypt, Mamluks, Mamluks in Egypt,
and the Fatih then, sorry, Safavid safavidin in Baghdad,
he started it. You filming? Okay,
right. So we are walking into the part where the holy relics are
kept. Okay,
some of the belongings, some of the belongings of the Prophet
sallallahu, sallam, attributed to him, and some of the belongings
attributed to the Sahaba, the companions of Rasulullah, we will
see Inshallah, and when we get in there, we will explain more
inshaAllah. Okay, so stay with me
and keep following, please. Okay, so we are near the end. Okay,
and they are getting everyone to cover their heads,
out of respect for the relics. We will see some of them inshallah.
Keep following, please.
Okay, so we have one of the oldest Qurans in there,
the top copy Quran, very famous Quran manuscript from the late
first or early second century, in my opinion, is from the early
second century of Islam. Okay,
just around the time in the last Sahaba were alive, or possibly the
Tabin day time. Inshallah, we will see it, right?
So if we come around here,
we can go around
inshallah if we start with the room in the back, very quickly.
Follow me. Please,
very quickly, follow me. Follow me. Inshallah,
so if you keep following me very quickly, Inshallah,
okay, in this room, some interesting items are kept. They
are attributed to the prophets of Allah.
Okay, we will see and show what they are. Excuse me. Can we go
fast please? Sorry, they are blocking the way. Sorry, excuse
me. Sorry. Oh, you are so no problem. Come come through,
please,
right. So
here we have some relics, come through. Inshallah, come through,
please, everyone.
So these are attributed to Yahya.
Salam, John the Baptist. Okay, I don't believe them to be true, but
they are attributed to John the Baptist, and they come from the
Roman period. From the Byzantine period, the Romans had attributed
these bones, or these remains, to John the Baptist, who is Yahi alai
Salam. And you can see Greek inscription on the containers.
They are gold. They are made of gold and precious stones. So you
can see that arm there. It is claimed that the arm of ya ala
Salam or John the Baptist is in there. Okay,
right. And there is a footprint there as well.
Okay, so,
this is
basically attributed to the Prophet sallallahu sallam, Prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, okay, it's a footprint attributed to the
Prophet sallallahu sallam. If you keep moving Inshallah, very
quickly, follow, keep following me. There's a lot to see. There's
a lot to see inshallah come.
Okay,
so
this is the sword, allegedly of
Prophet David or dawn.
I personally don't believe that to be true, but it is an attribution.
Okay,
we have nothing from the prophets from that time, historically
speaking, but these are attributions. And this is again,
the bowl, okay, stone pot belonging to Prophet Abraham
Ibrahim. Okay, again, attribution. Is an attribution to the Prophet
Ibrahim, alaihi salam, okay, so keep moving out. Inshallah.
Everyone with me right
now? This is one of the most precious gems in this museum.
This is one of the most important items here in this museum, this is
a Quran manuscript from the late first century or early second
century of Islam. In my opinion, I believe this is from the second,
early second century, possibly 110 120 130 Hijri,
after the Prophet sallallahu, sallamisin Kufic script, and it is
very, very well preserved. It's called the top copy manuscript.
Okay, we can, if we try to read it, we can even read it.
So this is
called the famous top copy Quran manuscript.
And it is the majority of the text of the Quran is there. And then
there are some manuscripts of Sahel Bukhari, very nicely
decorated, the Hadees of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam here.
Okay. They are handwritten. They are lavishly decorated in gold,
absolutely beautiful.
24 hours, they are reciting Quran, yes, after they brought the Quran,
the the Quran here are reading the Quran, non stop, so long as the
museum
is open. The second and magnificent bedroom, okay, so this
is the bedroom of Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih bajeed The second, and
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
Sultan Salim the first. So this is the private bed chamber, or the
bedroom of Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih, Sultan Baiji the second,
Sultan Suleiman, the magnificent and Sultan Salim the first, the
father of Sultan Suleiman. So four Sultans, respectively. In order,
Muhammad Fatih, his son by the second, then his son, Sultan Salim
the first, and then his son, Sultan Suleiman. This is their
bedroom, okay, so you can see now it is part of the museum, and this
is where the Sultans lived and stayed. They were Subhanallah, you
know, in the same dome that students imagine, if you know the
services they have done for Islam, and if you think about it,
SubhanAllah. This is a very special room. This is a very
historic place. Inshallah, let's keep moving, everyone. Let's keep
moving everyone.
You so we have some again. This is another footprint of the Prophet
sallallahu sallam, attributed again. Okay,
the Ottomans had brought these objects from the Hijaz region, and
they trusted and believed the attributions. It's very difficult
to prove whether this is actually a footprint of the Prophet,
sallAllahu, sallam.
Then these are letters that were written to different kings. Okay,
these are again, copies, I believe they are not the actual original
letters. There's no evidence to prove that the Prophet's letters.
It okay, because scholars have studied them, and they believe
that these are not original letters, but again, they are
examples of what the letters of the Prophet SAW would have looked
like.
Okay if we keep moving. There are many other relics that are
attributed to the Prophet sallallahu sallam, like the hair
of the Prophet sallallahu sallam. Okay,
you can see them here, kept in this museum
very carefully. And we have some swords here.
Again, there is a sandal of the Prophet sallallahu sallam,
attributed to him. There's another one. Then there are others there,
and some of the swords as well,
the bow of the Prophet sallallahu alai Salam there on top. Again,
I don't think so. No, I don't personally believe that any of
these items can be traced back to the Prophet SAW assalam without
problems.
I would be the first person to celebrate these. I would be the
first person because I indulge in debates with atheists and
Christians all the time about these things, and it's very
difficult to prove these attributions. Yeah,
okay, let's go.
But we have things that can be attributed with certainty. Okay.
These are some of the swords belonging to the companions of the
Prophet sallallahu, sallam. Okay, it is claimed Khalid bin Walid,
his swords are there again. I have my skepticism. I have my
skepticism. We are told in Islamic sources that Khalid bin Walid,
RadiAllahu, he broke Nine Swords in the Battle of muta correct,
nine or 11, nine, nine swords when he was given the leadership of the
Muslims. Okay, it were 3000 Muslims against a huge army of the
Romans. The first three Emirs were killed, respectively, one after
another. First was Abdullah bin rawaha, then Java bin Abu Talib.
The first was Zayd bin Osama bin sorry. Zaid Bin Haritha, Zaid Bin
Haritha, then Jafar, then Abdullah bin rawaha, and then Khalid bin
Walid RadiAllahu on took
the leadership into his own hands, and he was still a new Muslim. He
had recently accepted Islam, but he fought the Romans
Allahu Akbar so valiantly that he broke Nine Swords in that one
battle and managed to take the entire army back to the to the
desert in one piece. Otherwise there would have been a massacre.
There was no way the Muslims could have defeat. But again, this was a
defeat for the Romans. The Romans could not the way Khalid fought
them, because he kept, kept switching rows, so one row is
left, to the right and the left. So he kept, he kept switching
rows. And the Romans were thinking, Where are these new
people coming from? What is happening here? So they didn't
have the courage to fight harder. And Khalid bin Ladin, his mission
was to preserve the army and take it back to Medina, the Battle of
muta, famous battle of muta, which took place in current day Jordan.
Okay, so these swords are attributed to Khalid bin Walid
RadiAllahu. Anh, okay,
I know, obviously these hills are late. They are not from the time
they were added later on. Okay, we cannot fully,
okay. These are some Quran manuscripts from the early period.
Okay,
again, a verse in the Quran written by caliph Ali. This we
cannot ascertain.
This is, I believe, a later Quran. This is from the second century of
Hijri. So again, this attribution. I'm sorry if I if I sound too
skeptical about this collection, but I am a historian. This is my
field. I have studied some of these things, and I know the
script, the script, this Kufic script, is from the second
century, so we respect the attributions. This, again, is
attributed to Othman radhilawan, and this script wasn't even around
at the time when Othman radhilawan, he passed away. Osman
passed away in 36 Hijri. 36 Hijri, the earliest manuscripts we have
the Quran were in the Hijazi script. This is kufik. This is
quite late, so there is no doubt that these are later manuscripts
attributed to earlier people like Ali and Uthman, okay, but
Alhamdulillah, they are still very original. They are amazing. They
are at least 1300 or 1012
150 and 50 years old. Okay, they from the second century of Islam.
Quran manuscripts. Again, we are swords here, okay, the sword of
Omar radhi Allah, one attributed to him, again, the sword of Ali.
Okay,
allegedly This is Zulfikar.
Okay, but this is a later sword. Clearly, this is not a sword from
that period. The problem is, the inscription is, sorry,
this is, this is centuries old. So, so we have to move on.
Inshallah, let's go. But they could have embellished it. Yeah,
they could have, but even the design of the sword and, and, you
know, it's the experts in the field, the biggest experts in the
field, they don't believe these attributions, okay,
who's cap?
Okay? Let's go. And then they have the kurta. Yeah, the dress of
Fatima Radi Allahu anha attributed to her again.
And this is one of the best Quran manuscripts, possibly in the
world, it's so beautiful. It's so lavishly decorated that it is
unbelievable. If you Yeah, if you look at it, it's decorated in gold
and different colors, blue and green and pink.
Very expensive material was used to decorate Quran manuscripts of
this type, this nature. What you see there is the tulus script. The
style is the tulus style. And this Quran is from 1570 1570 produced
in Persia in Iran, Safavi Persia
in 1570 the you.
Again, these are, there are these massive swords.
Okay,
so, the sword of Zubair bin awam, the sword of Jafar, the sword of
Amar, bin jasar,
Khalid, bin Walid, mahas bin Jabal, again, these are all
attributions. Let's go. So this was the relic section of the
museum, and we have walked very fast through it. Alhamdulillah,
we're going to go to the next section now, which is one of the
absolutely mind blowing sections, which is the next section. If you
keep following me, everyone.
People skip it. Don't even want to see it. Yeah, you they don't know
this one. The Yeah, this one, yeah,
okay. This is, oh, this this high house is one of the greatest, one
of the best Quran manuscripts in the Muslim world, and you will see
why. If you keep following me, Inshallah, we will see some of the
best Quran manuscripts in the world.
This Topkapi museum contains far too much for us to actually go
through in one day. What we are looking at are the highlights. Are
the main bits. And those of you who want to come and join us on
the next trips, you can have your extra day or two to visit the
museum, and you tell so now here we have some masterpieces of
calligraphy the Quran. And you can see there are absolute gems. They
are absolute gems. How they have been produced? Okay, each and
every single piece is a masterpiece. So we're going to go
straight to the Quran Inshallah, having seen all these pieces
Inshallah,
the
so here we have some Quran manuscripts. They are absolutely
magnificent. They are some of the best Quran manuscripts in the
world.
Okay, this one is
Quran from 730 Hijri, which is 1330 it is 700 years old.
And the author, or the scribe, sorry, is argun bin Abdullah Al
kamiri,
okay, if we move forward Inshallah,
this is, again, a very beautiful, lavishly decorated Quran
manuscript, okay?
By Ahmed.
Ahmed Sara worthy, mahaka. This is mahaka script, okay? And it's from
the 14th century, again, 1300s
beautifully decorated. If you look at it, it's absolutely
magnificent. So the Muslims, they spent a lot of time and effort
into decorating Quran manuscripts and producing them for royalty and
important people, because this would cost a lot of money. This
would cost absolutely a lot of money. Okay, so again, there's
another one here. This is by Yakut.
Al mustasamy,
okay, from 1299, this is when the Ottoman dynasty actually started.
And Yakut Al Mustafa Sami was a very famous calligrapher from
Baghdad. Okay, this is the sword of Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih,
Muhammad the second. And this is not a ceremonial sword. Rather,
this is for war. This was used in battles. Okay, so, this is his
personal sword, Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih,
very impressive.
Okay, we are in the treasure section. Now you just saw the
sword of Sultan Muhammad Al Fatih. These are some of the coins, some
of the lavish coins of the Ottoman Empire, and some of the stones,
precious stones there. So these are the treasures that are kept at
the top copy palace. You see gold and emerald studied, pots,
utensils, absolutely mind blowing. If you keep coming,
look at having,
if you look at these utensils,
right there, okay, these are to decorate the turbans of the
Sultans.
These are actually, these are for the turbans of the Sultans, right,
yeah. So these are for the decoration of the turbans.
You can see jewelry for ladies, earrings, rings.
They are diamond studied emeralds and rubies, absolutely mind
blowing stuff. This is Ottoman treasury. Now that's a binding,
possibly of a Quran. It is all made of gold. Allahu Akbar, that's
a binding of a book, the Quran binding. So guys, we have to move
very quickly, because we have,
this is one of the reasons we look at this one. Allahu Akbar, that's
absolutely mind blowing. And I'm sure it is a Quran binding. Okay,
let's go.
Keep going, keep moving. Inshallah,
and that's a huge diamond there. You can see, that's a huge
diamond.
This is part of the Ottoman treasury. The Ottoman Empire was
rich and
very powerful. This
is the biggest
diamond. This is one of the biggest diamonds in the world.
This is one of the biggest diamonds in the world. Okay, that
belongs to the treasury of the Ottomans. Let's keep moving.
Okay,
you can
these are, again, some of the treasures of the Ottomans. Look at
that decorated dagger
with the emirate hilt.
Sorry, emerald.
This is the armor of the Sultan Mustafa the third. Wow. Wow.
Amazing. The Sultan would have worn this once upon a time.
Mustafa the third is diamond studied,
decorated with gold, and this is this the second favorite, most
important thing in the Topkapi. This is one of the most visited
things in the top copy palace. This was a dagger made for the
Persian Sultan, and it was sent
as a gift from Sultan Mahmud. This was sent for Nadi Shah, Nadi Shah,
the one who invaded India. Okay, and then there were disturbances
in Persia, so the dagger was brought back and now is part of
the top copy treasury. It was initially produced and for and
sent to najas Shah Afshar of Persia. This is one of the most
lavishly decorated daggers, possibly in the world. It's a
beautiful gift. It's a cradle. These are some coins, wow
of the Sultans, I think these coins were for them to throw on
people. Yeah. These are commemorative coins. These are
commemorative coins the Persian king
gave to the Ottoman king as a gift. Wow, wow. And that dagger
you saw there was sent by the Ottoman Sultan for the Yeah, yeah.
So these are some of the gifts that were sent to the Ottoman
Sultans. You can see how lavishly decorated they are, diamonds,
studded, rubies, emeralds, you name it. So Ottomans were very
advanced when it came to these things.
You can see all these absolutely amazing gems that were kept in the
treasury of the Sultans?
Yes, absolutely. I think this was very important.
So this is one of the thrones where the Sultan would sit, and is
so lavishly decorated nada Shah's throne. Wow, wow. Absolutely
amazing. It's.
Studied with rubies and pearls. You can see visibly rubies and
pearls on it,
Sultan Nader, Shah of Persia,
the one who invaded India in 1739,
amazing. So everyone I know this is getting a bit too much in the
vlog to see and to behold, but we want you to have an idea of what
it looks like on the ground when you are here. It's a different
reality altogether. Look at these lavishly decorated daggers. This
is Jade studded with rubies and emeralds and gold.
All of this belongs to the Sultans.
Once upon a time, Ottoman Sultans this treasury, I'm very happy it
survived. It wasn't destroyed by wars and disturbances here.
Alhamdulillah,
there are people who can come and see this
and have an idea how powerful the Ottomans world.
So this is the end of the Treasury, and Inshallah, we're
going to make our way to hire Sophia, and we're going to video
parts of high Sofia for you to understand what these tours are
like. And if you want to join one of our future tours, brothers and
sisters, go on Halal getaways.com
and check out the future dates. For Turkey, for Morocco and for Al
Andalus, for Spain, we are, Inshallah, visiting Spain and
Morocco in October, 1 Morocco, then Spain, back to back. Okay,
you can book either one of those tours, or both of them, if you
want to again, we are back into the treasury. We were going to
stop, but we will continue. Okay, some of these items are absolutely
mind blowing. I want to show you very quickly the bindings, the
Quran bindings, that were created by the Ottomans, and how lavishly
decorated they are. These are Quran bindings that are studied
with gold and emerald and rubies precious stones,
and inside them are Qurans.
These are Quran bindings. Now,
look at that one. Unbelievable. It's filled with gold and
diamonds and emeralds
and these Qurans would obviously belong to the Sultans themselves.
They belong to the Sultans.
Look at this one, absolutely, unbelievably,
unbelievably beautiful.
It's all gold,
and this one also,
this is unbelievable artwork and dedication.
Again, these are bindings
books or the Quran manuscripts that belong to the Sultans,
the bindings alone are a treasure.
And if we look at some of the tasmis,
some of the TAs the Sultans would have used
for making athkar,
yeah, they are Jade and emerald and other things. Allahu, Akbar,
let's keep moving everyone.
This is Dunia, and it has the tendency to pull you in. So we
want to avoid the temptations. Inshallah, okay,
but I must say that despite the fact that, or in spite of the fact
that Ottomans had this treasure, and this is how rich they were,
they kept their religion very close to them until very late,
until very, very last moment of the Ottomans, they kept their
religion very close to them. They were very staunch Muslims. Okay,
so in general, we're going to make our way to top coffee palace, and
we'll continue from there somewhere. Here we are outside
higher Sophia. Look at the imposing structure. It's now a
masjid. It was a masjid after Sultan Mohammed Al Fatih took the
city of Constantinople in 1453, and then it was made into a
masjid. And for almost 400 years, it remained a masjid, until
Mustafa Kamala katoa made it into a museum, and recently, the
current government turned it into a masjid. Again, it was returned
to being a masjid. And you can hear the Adhan but we can see
clearly signs from the Roman Byzantine period. You can see
these inscriptions, these walls inscribed by Roman architects and
workers. Look at those remains underneath. So
there were three constructions of Hagia, Sophia, the first one, the
second one and the third one. This is what you see is was completed
in 530,
Seven CE by Emperor Justinian. Okay, and when he entered the
building, he said, Solomon, I have surpassed thee. I have beaten you.
And he was referring to the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. So what
you see there are the remains of the second phase of higher Sophia,
and we're
going to go inside. Inshallah, let's go.
The Adhan is being called the as you can hear, but you can still
see crosses on the top, on marble windows, just underneath the
windows, just under the windows, you can see the crosses from the
Christian Roman period, Byzantine period. So this was the greatest,
the largest indoor standing structure in the world for 1000
years, until the Ottomans surpassed it. So we're going to go
inside inshallah and show you more. Those of you want to join
these tours, these trips, check out Halal getaways.com. We are
doing these tours every
couple of months. Every three months, I am personally leading
these tours as a historian. You can join one of the tours with me.
Inshallah. Oh, sorry, this is ladies entrance. We nearly went
into the wrong entrance, right? So,
so you can join one of the future tours. You can check out the dates
and destinations on Halal getaways. So now we are entering
the famous higher Sophia. You can still see remains from the Roman
period. That's sacrophagus. You can see like a tomb, like a grave.
It's called sarcophagus. Okay, we're going to enter from here.
These gates are still very much old and ancient. They are still
standing to this day. They're made of bronze. Okay, you can see the
mosaic work on top. This is the entrance of higher Sophia.
You can see very visible mosaic work. We're going to go inside.
Inshallah, we're
going to take our shoes off and put our shoes
in one of these sections.
So what you see there, up there,
what you see up there, are depictions of,
imagine, depictions of Isa alai Salam,
okay,
in mosaic artwork, you can come step back here and take it from
the inshallah. And the gates are very much from the time. They're
very old gates, okay? And this is an absolutely magnificent, mind
blowing structure that has stood for the last 1500
years. It's very imposing when we walk in there. It's another world
altogether. So Inshallah, we're going to walk in there and have a
look at Hi Sophia. There's a lot to see that cannot be seen in one
day. So we're going to put our shoes.
We are going into the building. And it is absolutely mind blowing.
It is now a masjid,
as
stated,
Allahu Akbar. This is haya Sophia Allahu Akbar.
This was the largest standing indoor structure in the world. And
the pillars are from the very time of Emperor Justinian, from the
sixth century CE before the Prophet sallallahu sallam was
born. These pillars have been standing, and they stand to this
day SubhanAllah. Look at those pillars, the columns and the
capitals, the decoration, the carving and the floral designs are
before. Are from before the Prophet sallallahu, sallam was
born. And the gates are very old as well. So the building is still
very much in its original structure. The dome had been
repaired many times so that it lasts. And then in the 16th
century, Mimar Sinan, he put supports outside of the building
to support the dome. So he put huge block walls to protect the
dome and the building from falling, because this is
a place Turkey is a country where a lot of earthquakes happen, and
many buildings fell, amazingly, Ottoman buildings that were built
later on fell during many different earthquakes, but this
building is still standing to this day. For the last 1004
500 years, Allahu, Akbar, and it is absolutely magnificent.
It is prayer time. We're going to stop now and we're going to start
again. Inshallah, in few minutes, the prayer time is over. Salah has
been done. The Sheik is doing a talk. Okay, but we're going to do
a quick tour inshallah. I hope you can hear me clearly. These pillars
and the capitals are from the time of Justinian. They're very
original. You can see silty crosses in there. You see there's
a cross there behind the.
Miller, right? And there is still a lot of Christian
symbolism
present, but these columns have been standing for the last 1500
years. They are still very much in their original condition, and
those so called Angels were painted by the Christians. They're
still around. The pictures are there? Okay, a lot of the mosaic
work still survives.
Now it's a masjid. You can see there are Muslims praying here.
The Imam is doing a talk. It was a masjid for nearly 400 years, and
we have some young Ottomans sitting here listening to the DAS
Masha Allah
Salaam Alaikum, Sheik Fahad mashallah, okay, so look at these
pillars
and even these marble slabs. These slabs are from the Byzantine from
the Roman period. 1500 years they've been standing here
Allahu Akbar, this marble as well. Yes, all of this is from the time
of Justinian. So the building, the structure pretty much in original
condition, if you keep walking with me Come Inshallah,
much of the decoration was done by the Muslims later on this colorful
decoration by it was done later on by the Ottomans right,
come, come.
So
what we are looking at is a building
that was completed about 40 years before the Prophet sallallahu,
sallam, Prophet Muhammad, was born, and these pillars and these
colons have been standing since then. This was one of the most
imposing structures in the world at the time. As I said earlier,
this was
the largest indoor standing structure in the world for 1400
years.
So some of the crosses have been covered. As you can see, there's a
circle that has been made around a cross, but
underneath was a cross,
underneath was a cross. So a lot of the crosses are still there,
but they have been covered
violated artwork. Yes, can you show the most important one? Yes,
let's go.
So we're gonna see the most important symbol here in Hayat
Sophia
on the door. Yes, you can see the stairs. That is
the location in Jerusalem, right that they believe
is turned back. But yes, Christian way, right? So they just showing
the that cross, showing the end. You can see the foot back right,
the cross on the gate there, that cross, okay,
is there? And it signifies the return of Jesus, return of Isa
Lam, according to the Christian narrative,
on top of the gate, just below the Yeah,
and we will see it close inshallah. So a lot of the
decoration was done by the Ottomans, but still, the building
possesses original decoration, original carvings from the Roman
period,
and there is a lot we will see outside later on Inshallah, when
we leave inshallah.