The Red-Bearded Admiral

Ali, Omar and Hassan stood gazing at the sea. Wild currents crashed to the shore, spraying frothy water and salty droplets on their faces. Their school trip to the Karachi naval headquarters had been very inspiring. Ms. Salman, their accompanying teacher, asked them to take their seats on the docks and handed over their snack boxes of sandwiches and juice to conclude the field trip.

Thoughtfully she asked: “Who knows Hayreddin Barbarossa?” 

The students gave a blank stare. Some didn’t even look up from being too busy munching on their sandwich.

“When Muslim Spain fell, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, hundreds of Muslims were killed, and the knights of St. John captured every Muslim ship sailing the Mediterranean Sea. This caused a great loss of human life and business. In these trying times, Hayreddin rose as a leader to defend the ships of Muslims from enemies. Hayreddin had three other brothers, and all of them worked together. He learnt to build ships, worked as a sailor and later turned into a pirate to save Muslims from cruelties. He helped seventy thousand Muslim captives (called Morisco) escape from the Christian ruler’s torture and transported them to safer lands.”

“How come we have not heard of him?” Hassan asked, sipping his juice.

“If you visit Turkey, you will see his statue in The Istanbul Naval Museum. The Turkish seamen to this day salute his statue with canon fire, whenever they set sail for fighting. It’s sad that you know so little about your brave heroes.”

“Please, tell us more!” Ali insisted, curious to find out more. 

All the boys pleaded in unison. It was a beautiful day with a strong breeze and a gentle sun. They didn’t want to go back to school just yet. Surely, a story would hold Ms. Salman back for a longer time.

“Okay, here it goes,” Ms. Salman’s eyes were sparkling with excitement. “Hayreddin was born in 1546, in Lesbos, a place bordering Greece. His father was a Muslim and his mother was a Christian. He became the admiral (Ameer ul-Bahar – king of the seas) for the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the mid-sixteenth century. He built galliots and gun powder production facilities with his brothers. His main wars were against Spain and Italy.”

Omar asked: “He has a funny name. What does it mean?” 

“He came to be known as Hayreddin, because he was a man of Khair (goodness). He was called Barbarossa, which means “a red beard”. He had a flag that had three important points:

1. The flag carried a Quranic Ayat. It translated as: “And also (He will give you) another (blessing) which you love – help from Allah (against your enemies) and a near victory. And give glad tidings (O Muhammad (sa)) to the believers.” (As-Saff 61:13)
2. The flag showed four crescents with the names of the first four caliphs – Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali – whose rule is called the Khilafat-e-Rashidiya.
3. The flag also bore the image of a two bladed sword called Dhul-Fiqar, which first belonged to the Prophet (sa) and later to Ali (rtam).

So clearly this sea warrior was a true believer, who was inspired by the Quran and the Prophet (sa). He went to battle to save innocent Muslims from the enemies. He joined many other similar sea-fighters and grew his fleet so huge and strong that for years no ship could stand against him. He spent his entire life battling at sea and building a Muslim naval force. Though the Muslims were in a very poor condition on land, they ruled the seas under Barbarossa’s leadership.”

“Wow! How did he die? During a battle?” Ali inquired wide-eyed.

“No, he retired in 1545 in Istanbul and dictated his stories to be told to later generations and to be learnt from in defending Islam. You can see these books even today in Topkapi Palace of Istanbul. His son Hasan Pasha took over from him and ruled Algiers. But even after his death, Muslims ruled the seas for the next three hundred years.” 

The kids felt their blood racing. It felt great to have such brave heroes in the past. The question was: what are we doing today to make this world a better place? Are we helping the innocent and weak ones? 

The real hero is the one who decides to dream big for himself and others and wins together with his team for a cause and Allah’s (swt) pleasure!

We still need heroes like Hayreddin Barbarossa to come forward and save humanity from injustice. Don’t we?