Lauren Booth – Visit to The Fatih Complex – Islamic Heritage Series
AI: Summary ©
The great Turks in Istanbul are a hub for market stalls run by Syrian- identity speakers, with names like Jannah being promised to those who were promised. The architecture of the mosque is described, including the names of individuals who were promised Jannah. The speaker describes the struggles of Islam and the importance of staying safe in the mosque, as well as the rise of Islam in Europe as a major charity. A young Mehmet II with a mission to achieve Islam in Europe and was trained by Ak drafts bi, found himself in a city with many books and animals, including a hospice, school, and culture center, leading to becoming the most influential city in Bosnia.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum, I'm afraid this finds you
well unblessed.
Welcome to one of my favourite areas of
Istanbul.
It's called Fatih and today it's a hub
of market stalls run by largely Syrian-Arab
speakers, masha'Allah.
As-salamu alaykum.
How are you, okay?
Some people like to tell us that Islamic
heritage is dead and buried, that the great
times are past, that there's nothing to remember
and we feel bad as Muslims but I'm
here to tell you, Sopanaland, to remind me
that in the salams we give each other
and in Istanbul, in the very walls, are
the heritage and legacy of the great.
So there's lots of Syrian children around here.
They've been welcomed in the earlier years by
the Turks and we pray that that heart
and soul is found to maintain that relationship
and to treat them as Muslims fleeing oppression.
Hey, as-salamu alaykum, what's your name?
Look at this, what's your name?
Oh yeah, okay.
These kids, unfortunately, have had to learn to
give hugs for money.
The situation for the Muslims here is really,
really difficult, okay?
Allah bless you.
I'll get you some sweets later on, okay?
Originally, this area was built up by Fatih
Mehmet the Conqueror who wanted to set up
a foundation for a new empire by helping
the people.
We're about to visit the magnificent mosque that
bears his name.
This is the Fatih Complex and it was
built in the first decade after the conquest
of Constantinople and it shares essences of the
Medina Complex, okay?
Because when you build a mosque, you don't
just build a place to pray and then
you go home.
If you look around here, you can see
there are gardens for people to rest in,
fountains for people to get water in.
It's a very rare thing here, and that
is that the names of the ten who
were promised Jannah by the Prophet, peace be
upon him, appear in this mosque.
So if you look up there, there's the
names of the ten sahaba, friends of the
Prophet, who were promised Jannah.
I can see Talha up there.
That is not a normal thing, it's not
a traditional thing, but it's here and it
was chosen by Sultan Fatih.
Look at
these beautiful inlets here, these eaves.
So these are for travellers and the Sultan,
peace be upon him, Mehmed II, he commissioned
these himself specifically.
Now what are they for apart from being,
these are rebuilt ones obviously in the Baroque
style, but they close and they can be
locked.
And what would happen is travellers would come
here and they would put their belongings there,
right?
They'd probably be stacked to the sky, they'd
be locked by the Imam or somebody who
looked after the mosque, and then the travellers
would go and find somewhere to stay, knowing
that their things were safe in the mosque.
Allahu Akbar, makes you think of Medina, doesn't
it?
Nothing was missed in this design.
So when I was looking for information on
Mehmed II, and it's all in English, right,
on the internet, all I found were words
like vengeful, materialistic, conqueror.
It was as if he only lived to
take European cities, to cause problems to the
Europeans.
And don't get me wrong, he was a
conqueror, subhanAllah, he deserved that name.
He and his soldiers pushed into more than
20 campaigns, getting into Macedonia for the first
time, into Serbia, and even into parts of
Italy.
But did he really do that just for
fame and money and wealth?
Well, from a Muslim perspective, we know that
our decisions are first and foremost made so
that Allah is pleased with us.
This is the same young man who, at
19, conquered Constantinople, subhanAllah, on the words Allahu
Akbar, and then days later went to his
Sufi teacher and said, can I please become
a dervish in your order?
To live a Sufi life is to live
austerity and leave it all behind.
Lucky for us, his teacher said no.
You know what, it's incredible to imagine, but
at around 14 years old, the young Mehmet,
the Prince Mehmet as he was then, he
was still a young man, a child on
a mission, right?
He was 14 years old.
And one night he was in his bedroom
and his light, his candle was on until
late, almost to the dawn.
And he was being trained by Akşemseddin Gurani.
He was the highlight of the ulema at
the time in the region.
He went in and he asked the young
prince, what are you studying late in tonight?
And Mehmet didn't want to tell him, subhanAllah.
He said, this is a secret.
His Hodja looked through what he was studying
and all he saw were plans for how
to take Constantinople.
What a young man with a mission.
And so the Hodja gave him this advice.
He said that if you really want to
be the one blessed by Allah, to enter
Islam into the heart of Europe, if you
really want to be the man who fulfills
the prophecy of Muhammad, peace and blessings be
upon him, I do not want you to
be an ignorant sultan, but a wise ruler
with a heart and foresight.
How our prophet, peace and blessings be upon
him, said, Constantinople will certainly be conquered.
What a great commander, the commander who conquered
him.
And what a great army, the army who
conquered him.
So this, this is the library with thousands
of books collected originally by Mehmet II, subhanAllah,
as part of an Islamic waqf, which is
a major charity, like a permanent endowment.
Part of this arrangement, this city that he
rebuilt with its heart right here in Fatiha,
fed the poor.
So there were public kitchens, gave water to
the city, animals and the people, of course.
There was a hospice where the poor and
the dying could go.
There was an inn where people could stay
briefly.
There were madrasas, the schools here for the
students of knowledge, taught all of the relevant
sciences of the time.
Astronomy, medicine, literature.
He was known to invite some of the
greatest writers from the Greeks and the Italian
civilization or the old population at the time
to come and share their knowledge.
It really became a community hub.
By the grace of Allah, that meant that
there was so much care going around this
area that Constantinople, as it became Istanbul, within
50 years became, will be, arguably, the most
influential city in the world by the 1600s.
Allahu Akbar.
I'm going to go in and pray al
-Fatiha now.
There's a misconception that Sufis come and pray
to people.
The vast majority just pray al-Fatiha for
them, you know.
Please, Allah, forgive them, raise them in ranks,
bless them.
Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, once upon a time
Serbia, all of Islam, through that opening Sufano.
By the grace of Allah.
So I guess I'm a bit overwhelmed at
the tomb of Fatima Ahmed Rahimallah.
The takeaways are, I'm asking Allah for better
leaders, for the kind of leaders who care
about the poor in their countries, you know,
the kind of leaders who want educated people,
not ignorant people who they can control.
The sort of leaders who will, you know,
fight out of the love for Allah and
the want to bring justice and goodness to
other people in the world.
Not for material gain, you know, it's that
distance from, you know, Allah gifted him everything
and what did he want to do?
He wanted to write great poetry remembering Allah
and using literature in order to, you know,
manifest beauty, if you like, in his realm
and look after the poor above all else.
Subhan Allah.
I love this area, you know, there's kids
playing actually in the fountains there.
I don't think they're supposed to swim but
they are swimming.
And there's kids on bikes and people love
to come to this area, look at it,
it's so well maintained.
Well, that's been Fatih Complex Istanbul.
If you like these videos, give us a
like, don't forget to subscribe and let's continue
this journey together through Istanbul in our eyes.
Salaam.