History of Istanbul (Qustantiniyya) and Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) regarding this city

Istanbul city is the ancient city of the word. Istanbul is the largest city in turkey and is among the 15 largest urban areas in the world. Istanbul extends into both Europe and Asia. The city of Istanbul is very important geographically because it has a long history that extents the rise and fall of the world's most famous empires. Due to its participation in these empires, Istanbul has also experienced various names.

Roman Empire

Byzantium became a part of the Roman empire in 300s. During this time, the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, undertook the rebuilding of the entire city. His goal was to make it stand out and give the city monuments similar to those found in Rome. In 330, Constantine declared the city as the capital of the entire Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople (In Arabic Known as Qustantiniyya ).

Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire

After the death of the emperor Theodosius (I) in 395, enormous disorder took place in the empire as his sons permanently divided it. Following the division, Constantinople became the capital of the Byzantine empire in the 400s.As part of the Byzantine Empire, the city became specifically Greek, as opposed to its former identity in the Roman Empire. Because Constantinople was at the center of two continents, In 532, though, the anti government Nika Rvolt broke out among the city’s population and destroyed it. Afterward, many of its most outstanding monuments, one of which was the Hagia Sophia, were constructed during the city's rebuilding, and Constantinople became the center of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Latin Empire

Constantinople (Istanbul) significantly prospered during decades. This factor also made it a target for conquering. For hundreds of years, troops from all over the Middle East attacked the city. For a time it was even controlled by members of the Fourth Crusade after the city was dishonored in 1204. Subsequently, Constantinople became the center of the Catholic Latin Empire. As competition continued between the Catholic Latin Empire and the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire, Constantinople was caught in the middle and began to significantly decay. In 1261, in the midst of this disorder, the Empire of Nicaea recaptured Constantinople, and it was returned to the Byzantine Empire. After that, the Ottoman emperor began conquering the cities surrounding Constantinople and they effectively conquer the city.

Ottoman’s conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) by

Sultan Mehmed II In 1453

There were two powerful states in the world during the rise of Islam: the Persian Empire ruling Iran and Iraq, and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire ruling in Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and the Balkans. The Persian Empire was already abolished by Muslims at the time of  second caliph of Islam Hazrat Umar bin Khattab,. The empire's territories were also conquered. Syria and Egypt were the first two Byzantine regions conquered by Muslims.Constantinople, (Qustantiniyya ). by Arabs,  the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, became an ideal of Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad's well-known hadiths signify this ideal:

Hadith of the Prophet "Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will her"
leader be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!"

Hadith of the Prophet --" Allah bless and greet him and his Family."

           Muslims exerted great effort to conquer Constantinople since the time of Caliph Muawiyah ibn Sufyan. The first Muslim army to conquer the city was sent in 670 under the command of Yazid I, the son of caliph Muawiyah. Some companions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), who were still alive at the time, also participated in the army. One of them was Hazrat Ayub Ansari, who is today known as "Eyüp Sultan" among Turks and has a tomb in a famous Istanbul after him. This siege was failed due to Islamic army was infected with epidemic. Afterwards, in 715 Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik sent his sons Suleiman and Maslama to lay siege to the city. Maslama surrounded the city over Anatolia on land while his brother Suleiman arrived over the Aegean Sea. The city was not entirely conquered. However, Maslama took over one of Istanbul's large neighborhoods, Galata, and stayed there for seven years .Standing still, the Arab Mosque in Galata is a memory of those days.

Centuries later, Ottoman Turks revived this ideal. The 4th Ottoman Sultan , Yeldram Bayezid, and his son Sultan Murad II laid siege to the city many times. But, due to other enemy attacks, the siege were lifted..The conquest of Constantinople was granted to the 7th Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II. The 21-year old and brainpower emperor prepared siege plans day and night. He gathered intelligence around the city. When Sultan Mehmed II  fleet was unable to enter the city due to the defensive chain stretching across the mouth of the Golden Horn, he ordered several ships to roll overland into the sea and attacked the city's heart. Cannons fired at the city walls for days. After a 53-day siege, Byzantine soldiers finally surrendered.

Upon taking control of the city, Sultan Mehmed II pursued to restore Istanbul. He created the Grand Bazaar, brought back escaping Catholic and Greek Orthodox residents. In addition to these residents, he brought in Muslim, Christian, and Jewish families to establish a mixed populace. Sultan Mehmed also began the building of architecural mounements, schools, hospitals, public baths, and grand imperial mosques. From 1520 to 1566,Sulemanmegnificently controlled the Ottoman Empire, and there were many artistic and architectural achievements that made the city a major cultural, political, and commercial center. The Ottoman Empire ruled Istanbul until World War I.

Republic of Turkey

           After World War I,  in 1923 Istanbul became a part of the Republic of Turkey. Istanbul was not the capital city of the new republic, now the capital of Turkey is centrally located city, Ankara.  New public squares and avenues were constructed. In the 1970s, Istanbul’s population rapidly increased, causing the city to expand into the nearby villages and forests, Istanbul's many historical areas were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1985.