Sultan Murad II (6th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire)

Murad II was born in 806 AH about 1404 AD in Amasia. In 824 AH about 1421 AD, he was just 18 years of his age when he became 6^th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire after the death of his father Sultan Mohammad I. Because of which the rebellion which was crushed by Sultan Mohammad I, started to arise again. First of all, the Emir of Constantinople, while ignoring all the favors of Sultan Mohammad I, arose a guy named Mustafa who used to say himself as the son of Sultan Bayezid I and claimed to be Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, against Sultan Murad II. He sieged the city Gallipoli. But Sultan Murad II arrested him and hanged him. Sultan Murad II decided to conquer Constantinople in order to punish the Emir of this city. He sieged the city. This time, Shah Manuel played a new trick and got the help of the Emir of Carmania in order to urge the real brother of Murad II whose name was also Mustafa. He took over Nicea (Iznik) and claimed that he is Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Murad II had to finish the siege and moved toward Nicea. He crushed this rebellion by defeating Mustafa.

After finishing this altercation, he moved towards those states of Anatolia which became independent after Timurid invasion and were involved in conspiracies against the Empire. Sultan compelled all these states to follow him and pay an annual tax. In 827 AH, about 1424 AD, after creating peace in Anatolia, returned to Europe. During this period, King Manuel had died and his son John was his successor as the next king. Therefore, Sultan Murad II preferred to compel Constantinople to pay tax on strict conditions. In 833 AH, about 1430 AD Salonika was conquered. After that Sultan Murad II moved towards Serbia which had remained an Ally of the Ottoman Empire on the basis of an act. But its new king broke the act. That’s why in 844 AH, about 1440 AD Sultan Murad II conquered Serbia again.

In 1440 AD, a western military commander named John Hunyadi who was famous for his extraordinary valor and bravery reached Hungary and got the command to fight against Turks. After the Ankara war, Hungary got a lot of time to regain its power. In this era, Ottomans were sieging Hermanstart in Translonia.  Hunyadi moved forward to help this fortress. With his small host, he defeated the great host of Turks. 20,000 Turks were killed in this battle. When Sultan Murad II came to know about this defeat, he sent another host of 80,000 warriors. Hunyadi defeated this host too. There was a wave of hope in the territories of Europe because of the great victory of Hunyadi and the defeat of Turks. There was created a great alliance of Christians in order to wipe out Turks from Europe. It was commanded by the Pop (Evgeni’s-IV Pont Max) himself. All countries of Europe were included in this alliance. This host was also commanded by John Hunyadi, who was considered as the greatest commander of the Christians.

Sultan Murad II was present in Anatolia for dealing with the altercation of Karamanid. By availing this opportunity, the Christians host kept on conquering cities one after the other. Ottoman’s host was weakened by the defeats, therefore, Sultan Murad II preferred to reconcile. At last, there was a reconciliation for the next 10 years at Dujadian in 1444 AD. According to this, Serbia got independence and Wallachia was handed over to Hungary. When Sultan Murad II went back to Anatolia after the reconciliation with his European Enemies, after fighting for almost 22 years, he got the news of the death of his son Alaaddin. He was in much grieve because of the death of his son. He was fed up of this world.

He handed over the throne to his son Mohammad (Mehmed II), who was of just 14 years, and moved towards Magnesia so that he could worship ALLAH with complete devotion in the remaining days of his life.  As there spread the news of the throne of a younger and inexperience Sultan Mohammad II, the Emir of Karamanid again started an altercation. On the other side in Europe, Kardinal Julian, Hungarian King Wladyslaw, John Hunyadi, and some helpers came out for testament of Dujadian reconcile. When Ottomans moved out of Serbia and Wallachia by following the reconciliation, Christians broke the reconciliation. Ottomans were totally unaware of all this situation because of which Christians while conquering a lot of fortresses reached Varna and took over it.

When Sultan Murad II came to know about this incident, he finished his reclusion and while moving faster reached Varna along with his host. In 848 AH about 1444 AD, both armies competed at Varna. Both armies showed the skills of sword fighting and archery with passion. In the start, Christian’s attack was leading the battle but the Muslims fought with bravery. During this battle, Wladyslaw and Sultan Murad II faced each other. Sultan Murad passed his spear from the heart of the perfidious king in just one attack. The king of Hungary fell from his horse like a ripened fruit. A warrior came forward and cut his head and pulled it up while hanging it on his spear towards Christians. The Emirs of Hungary got frightened while seeing all this situation. They ran out of the battlefield frantically. The Christian’s commander John Hunyadi was also with them. Before this almost two-thirds of the Christian’s army had been killed. The most dreadful dead body was of Kardinal Julian, who was the main cause of the testament of the Dujadian reconciliation and the killing of the Christians.  In the result of this victory, the states of Serbia and Bosnia were conquered completely. A lot of famous Emirs of Bosnia embraced Islam happily. After this campaign, Sultan Murad II again handed over the throne to Prince Mohammad II and went to reclusion. Because Prince Mohammad II was younger, this time the Turkish army Janissary, itself started an altercation. Sultan Murad II was compelled to take the throne again. As he reached Edirne, the rebels bowed their heads to him. After this, Sultan Murad II handled the throne till his last breath and spent his remaining life in wars and victories. The history is full of such Kings who left the throne and started living separately from people. Some of them also took the throne again. But there isn’t any king who left the throne for two times except Sultan Murad II.

The defeat of the Varna war was a spot on the fame of John Hunyadi. He gathered an army of 80,000 warriors in just four years again and succeeded in accompanying the armies of Hungary, Serbia, and Bosnia with him. While taking this gathered host, he moved towards the same battlefield of Kosovo in which about 60 years ago, Sultan Murad I defeated the king of Serbia and took over the throne. On 18^th Shaban, 852 AH about 17^th October 1448 AD, after the continuous war of 3 days, Sultan Murad II defeated the gathered host of Hunyadi badly. As a result of the second great battle of Kosovo, Serbia was conquered. Sultan Murad II preferred to take annual tax from Bosnia. After this war, Hungary moved out from following such empires who were able to fight against Ottomans for the next 10 years. After defeating the Christians in Balkan (Europe), Sultan Murad II moved towards the east and defeated Emir Timur’s son named Shah Rokh Timurid and the emirates of Karamanid. In his reign, there wasn’t any ruler of the rank of Sultan Murad II. In 855 AH, about 1451 AD, he died in Edirne at the age of 47 years. According to his will, he was buried in Bursa.