OKTAR BABUNA:"May Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you, my esteemed Master. We do love you very much for the good pleasure of Allah. May my Lord always keep you with us, may my Lord not part us from you both in this world and in the Hereafter. Amin.  My Blessed Master, in one of his blessed hadiths our Prophet (saas) declared; "Istanbul will certainly be conquered. What a beautiful commander is the commander who conquers her, and what a beautiful soldier is the soldier who conquers her."My blessed Master, could Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) and his students who will come in the End Times and spiritually conquer Istanbul, be the ones our Prophet (saas) mentioned in this hadith? My blessed Master, I kiss your luminous hands with love and respect. Your student who would not accept to be discharged, Beytullah Aydin, Zonguldak."

ADNAN OKTAR: Masha'Allah.

What a beautiful turn of phrase he had used masha'Allah. Actually the explicit meaning of this hadith refers directly to the Mahdi (pbuh) of course. The second meaning would refer to Fatih (Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror) and his conquest of Istanbul. That is because; "In the sight of the prophets, the incidents are told in the order of importance," says Bediuzzaman, incidents are told according to their significance. The most important thing would be told the first. Consequently there are many hadiths about the conquest of Istanbul. It is seen that this one is one of those.  All those hadiths are actually a whole anyway. I mean these hadiths constitute a whole. This one [our friend wrote] is only one of those hadiths and all of these hadiths refer to the Mahdi (pbuh), all of them. This hadith is also referring to Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) but in its second meaning it refers to Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror and the material conquest of Istanbul. That is because the spiritual conquest is very important; Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will spiritually conquer. The conquest of the land is a separate matter. You may conquer a land but unless you do not conquer there spiritually, it would have no meaning. Insha'Allah. For instance we, let us say, the Ottoman Army besieged the Szigetvar Castle and reached up until Wien. But there was no spiritual conquest; I mean they, the place did not become Muslim; only the land was conquered. That would not have any importance. For instance when you conquer a place spiritually, even if the other party takes back those lands, what would happen even if they conquer the land? Nothing would happen. So long as you live Islam to the fullest, what would happen even if he conquers? What would happen if their soldiers fill the land? What would happen if their police fill the land? You would be living your faith to the fullest. You blow into it and they will go back anyway; there would be no such problem. In fact they cannot even come in the first place but even if they do, you would blow once and they would all go away. Insha'Allah.