So how to become perfectionists:

1- By having a goal in life.

2- A strong willpower.
3- Patience.
4- Knowledge and expertise, or seeking the assistance of the experts.

These, if you noticed, are the same elements of positiveness. If you find these 4
elements in you, perfection will come automatically.

I will relate to you the story of a person who had all those elements, and the
result was an excellent and astounding work! This man is Muhammad Al-Fateh
(Muhammad the Conqueror). I told you his story before, but very briefly. Now I
will tell it in detail:

Muhammad Al-Fateh is the Conqueror of Constantinople, but let me first tell you
about this city.

Constantinople is a city connecting the Mediterranean with the Black Sea, and
Asia with Europe. It was considered the best global trade center in the medieval
ages. About it Napoleon said: "If the world was one kingdom, there will be no
better city befitting to be its capital than Constantinople. The Romans were
controlling it, and they led the whole world. Muslims tried to conquer it since the
days of our master Ali Bin Abi-Talib (for over 800 years!), but in vain.

This was because of its fortified fortresses:
1- A moat outside the city walls, with a depth of 10 meters, and a width of
60 meters!
2- It had two fortified walls: the outer wall was 25 feet high, and 10
meters thick!
3- The inner wall was 40 feet high, and 15 meters thick, and it had
guarding towers which were 60 meters high!
4- The city was triangular in shape, two sides directly overlooked the sea
and the third was fortified by all those walls.
5- 400 battalions protected those walls.

The reason Muslims wanted to conquer that city was not only because it was
strategically important, but also because of this Haddith

- The Prophet Peace Be Upon Him also said: "Verily, Constantinople shall be
conquered, its commander shall be the best commander ever and his army shall
be the best army ever.

The Muslims tried to conquer the city for over 800 years, through 10 attempts.
The first by our master Othman Bin Affan, the second and third by Moawia Bin
Abi Sufian, the fourth by Sulaiman Bin Abdul-Malik and the fifth by Haroun Al-
Rashid.

There were also several other attempts, the most famous one was the one in
which all the senior Companions took part, such as Abu Ayub Al-Ansari,
Abdullah Bin Omar and Abdullah Bin Abbas. In that attempt they besieged the
city for 7 years! During that attempt Abu Ayub Al-Ansari died and made the
request to be buried at the closest point to Constantinople, in the hope that
when he meets the Prophet Peace Be Upon Him on the Day of Judgment, he
could tell him that he was buried at the closest point to Constantinople ever
reached at that time. Just so that the Prophet Peace Be Upon Him may consider
him one of the forgiven army! Can you imagine how that dream took hold of
them at the time?

Until Muhammad Al-Fateh was born. When he was ten years old, his teacher
instilled that dream in him. In his childhood, he used to be too playful and
carefree, and being the son of the King, he did not feel any sense of
responsibility . So his teacher once beat him strongly and told him: 'Be a
man!'... 'Not being a man' hurt Muhammad and he straightened up at those
words! Later, he memorized the Holy Quran completely. He mastered 5
languages; Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Latin and old Greek. He also studied;
Astronomy, Geography and History. Then his teacher told him the Hadith of the
Prophet Peace Be Upon Him which says :" Verily, Constantinople shall be
conquered, its commander shall be the best commander ever and his army shall
be the best army ever.

He (the teacher) also told him that he thinks that he (Muhammad) will be that
commander. The teacher did not know that then, but he instilled the dream in
Muhammad.

ere are the elements forming inside him:
1- The goal.
2- The knowledge and expertise.
3- The will power.
4- Patience.

He used to say of himself: 'I have a heart as hard as a rock that will neither rest
nor soften until I achieve what I want!'. How would it be if we were all like this?
If we were men who realized their goals and dreams?

Muhammad, then, started to meet with experts to learn from them what
prevented Muslims from conquering Constantinople . He learned that there were
3 obstacles:
1- When reaching the shores overlooking the city, they would be exposed in the
open before the enemy, and building a fortress required a whole year.
2- The walls were so high and thick that no canon, yet existed, has been able to
demolish them.
3- The presence of a thick chain which blocked any ship from entering the Gulf,
outside their own.

This was a complicated combination that would make any person see that
conquering the city was impossible.

I will tell you about the conquering plan which, according to the orientalists, has
surpassed the tactics of Alexander the Great and Napoleon, and which made us
realize the unprecedented capabilities that Muslims possessed:

These are, briefly, the steps of the plan:
1- Muhammad Al-Fateh ordered a fortress to be built in only 3 months instead
of a whole year, using willpower and the help of the best builders and the most
efficient of them. These are actually the exact words as they came in the books.
He used the Hadith of the Prophet Peace BE Upon Him to instigate the workers.

2- He, then, set up a plan to use the assistance of an Hungarian expert who was
the only man capable of inventing a canon that could demolish those fortified
walls. The expert was imprisoned inside Constantinople itself for fear of anyone
reaching him. But for Muhammad nothing was impossible. So he ordered his
men to dig a tunnel beneath the walls and the moat to reach that prisoner and
free him, and enable him to invent that huge canon which weighted 700
pounds. The canon was pulled by 100 oxen and 100 strong men. When fired,
the boom of the canon was heard as far as 13 miles away! And the bomb dug a
6 feet-deep hole after hitting a rock. Just imagine such inventions! Imagine how
foreign experts assistance was sought, while now the Muslim experts are
immigrating to benefit the West! The plan was implemented perfectly and
without a single mistake.

3- The chains blocking the Gulf were overcame by transferring the ships
through the desert (bypassing the Gulf) by a plan beyond the imagination of
man. How did the ships cross the desert and the mountain for a length of 5 km?
Muhammad Al-Fateh gave his orders to cut all the trees in the area, use them
to form a long rail across the distance. Next he ordered this rail to be greased
with oil in order to slide the ships over it. He brought hundreds of men and oxen
to pull the ships (70 of them) while opening the sails to take advantage of the
wind. The ships would then be lowered on the other side of the desert, directly
into the sea and in front of the city walls! This plan which is almost beyond the
imagination of any man, was to be implemented in the short period from dusk
to dawn not to attract the attention of the Romans lest they would burn the
ships of the Muslims. It was imperative that the plan be implemented within
that short time, in order for the Muslims to cross the sea with their ships, burn
the 400 Romanian ships and claim victory!

Such was the plan without which all the Muslims over 800 years, were rendered
helpless and incapable of conquering Constantinople.

Anybody who sets his mind on an idea, be persistent on achieving it, and
exhorts all his efforts to accomplish it, will certainly be able to achieve it. Never
forget this.

The siege of the city continued over 50 days. On the day of conquest,
Muhammad Al-Fateh did some things that Muslims never knew of before.
1- He produced willpower in his men using military marches and chants.
2- He encouraged them by the Hadith of the Prophet Peace Be Upon Him.
3- He asked them to bless the Prophet Peace Be Upon Him a lot and pray for
him, to stimulate them to fight.
4- He asked the entire army to pray 2 voluntary raqaas, and his teacher led
that prayer (as Imam).

And they did conquer the city! When asked about his capabilities and how he
managed the conquest, he replied: 'I have two traits :1) a heart as hard as a
rock that would not rest until I achieve what I want. 2) a tearful Eye out of fear
of Allah. So how can I NOT achieve victory?'

Muhammad Bin Murad, now became well known as Muhammad Al-Fateh
because of his super-plan!



by Amr Khalid