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These incursions were fierce, fanatic and fatalistic. As early as A.H. 34(655), a
fleet of Muawiyah scored victory over the navy led by the Emperor Constance II. This
engagement which took place at Phoenix (modern Pinike) on the Lycian coast, is
considered the first great naval success of Islam. This event is known as Dhu-al-Sawari in
the Arab chronicles.

A Muslim reader may face a sudden volley of puzzlement to realize that the
military campaign of A.H. 49 (669), which actually succeeded in reaching the high triple
wall of Constantinople, was led by Munwiyah's son, Yazid, the crown prince, who stands
so maligned in the world of Islam for killing Hussain (the grandson of Muhammad) and
his family-members that even Devil envies him in notoriety.

Yet he was the commander of the faithful, who obeyed his orders enthusiastically
in search of booty through menace, murder and mutilation. One wonders, how Allah will
open the doors of paradise for the crusaders under the direction of Yazid!

May be I should also add that Yazid fought with such a fervor, fortitude and
ferocity that he earned the title of "Fateh-al-Arab" (Hero of the Arabs). An attempt to
conquer the Byzantine capital was itself an act of extraordinary courage. As his sword
flashed, pushing the Christians backward, the battlefield rang with the slogans of "Allah-
O--Akbar" and "Fateh-Al-Arab"; equally, his opponents showered similar praises on their
own commander when he demonstrated his dare, defiance and dragonism inflicting
devastation on the Arab invaders. According to the purifying merits of Jehad, Yazid was
a Mujahid (holy soldier of Islam) dedicated to establishing its splendor, superiority and
supremacy through the process of pillage, plunder and perdition.

In the campaign was also legendary hero Ayub al-Ansari, once the standard
bearer of the Prophet. He was one of the few faithful, who had heard the Prophet predict
fall of Caesar at the hands of the Arabs. His repeated recital of the hadith filled his fellow
crusaders with an unusual zeal to humiliate the infidels by gathering maximum booty
from them. Many were impelled to earn martyrdom, which is the guarantee of the greater
prize of paradise that puts to shame the reward of pillage. Abu Ayub, a Companion of the
Prophet, whose presence stamped Yazid's contingent with sanctity and honor, died as a
valiant crusader during the siege of Constantinople. So sacred was the spot of his burial
that it became a shrine even for the Christian Greeks, who traveled long distances to pray
for rains and obtain celestial blessings. Centuries later, when in 1453, the Turks laid siege
to Constantinople, some soldiers discovered the morning sun shower its rays on a tomb
with uncommon profusion. It could not be the burial place of anyone but Abu Ayub.
Since this discovery ranked as a miracle, a mosque was built on the site to honor his
holiness; thus it rose to become the shrine of three nations-- the Arabs, the Greeks and
the Turks.

Since Abu Ayub had participated in the battles of Badr and Uhud in the company
of the Prophet, his tomb was to serve as a heavenly inspiration for the Turks to carry out
their military campaigns in the east and west for establishing a Turkish Empire to please
Allah. May be they experienced similar moods of piety in relation to their European