Remembering Ottoman legend Fahreddin Pasha, the heroic defender of Medina

For four centuries, the Ottoman Empire served as custodian of the Holy Cities of Islam. 

Medina—where Prophet Muhammad lived, ruled, and was laid to rest—was the last sacred bastion under Ottoman protection. 

The city’s defence under Ottoman governor Fahreddin Pasha remains, to this day, a testament to the Turkish nation’s profound loyalty and devotion to Islam and the Muslim holy lands.

Born in 1868 in Ruse, in present-day Bulgaria, Fahreddin Pasha and his family moved to Istanbul when he was ten years old. 

He was originally named Omer, and later adopted ‘Turkkan’ as his surname as he rose through the Ottoman military ranks after completing the Military Academy in 1888 and the elite Defence College in 1891. 

He distinguished himself in the Balkan Wars and, by World War I, commanded the 12th Corps in Mosul.

His destiny, however, would be sealed not on the European front, but in the deserts of the Hejaz.

In 1916, intelligence revealed that Sharif Hussein, the then-ruler of Mecca, had reached a secret agreement with the British and was preparing an uprising. 

It was well known at the time that the British were working to topple the Ottoman Empire and had promised Sharif an Arab state free from Ottoman rule. 

Fahreddin Pasha was sent to Medina on May 28, 1916, to protect the city. The revolt erupted days later: telegraph lines and railway tracks were sabotaged, and rebel forces attacked Ottoman outposts. But Pasha’s defences held. 

Fahreddin Pasha’s 15,000 Ottoman soldiers were vastly outnumbered by the 50,000-strong rebel force, but he took the attack to the enemy – launching swift counterattacks and winning several battles. 

With supply lines cut and Bedouin tribes switching allegiance to Sharif Hussein, Medina became an island of resistance. 

Though the fall of Jeddah, Mecca, and Taif left Medina isolated, the Pasha and brave soldiers ensured that the holy city remained under the Ottoman flag. The British nicknamed him the Tiger of the Desert.

British spy TE Lawrence, later known as the Lawrence of Arabia, led and oversaw sabotage operations along the railway that isolated the city completely. 

Though some locals had been deceived into siding with the British, the majority of the tribes remained loyal to the Ottoman commander.

Medina’s defence — two years and seven months of siege, famine, deprivation, and disease — became one of the last heroic stands of the Ottoman Empire. 

Pasha had even likened locusts to “sparrows without feathers” so that his Turkish soldiers would be convinced to consume them like the locals, for fear of starvation. 

Devotion and love for the prophet

Beyond military endurance, what distinguished Fahreddin Pasha in Medina was his spiritual devotion, loyalty and love for the Prophet.

Professor Suleyman Beyoglu from Yeditepe University in Istanbul and author of the book Defence of Medina and Fahreddin Pasha refers to an extraordinary 1919 testimonial of Galip Ata Atac, the chief physician of Medina hospitals, which illuminates the depth of Fahreddin Pasha’s reverence for Medina.

“The care and devotion he showed toward the Haram al-Sharif was perhaps granted to no one before him,” Professor Beyoglu tells TRT World, referring to one of the three holiest places in Islam, located in Medina.

“Under Pasha’s meticulous guardianship, the Haram al-Sharif acquired a renewed radiance, even in material terms.”

Despite commanding under siege conditions, exhausted, besieged, and isolated, Pasha never neglected the sanctity of the Prophet’s Mosque. 

“Despite the immense burdens upon him, not a single day passed in which he failed to oversee the reverence due to the Sacred Chamber. Whenever the Room of the Prophet was washed, Fahreddin Pasha himself took part in the service.”

This reverence culminated in a moment that has since become an iconic memory of the Turkish nation.

“On the final day of the siege of Medina, when he was relieved of command, Fahreddin Pasha once again went to the Haram al-Sharif…and it was from there that he was taken away by force.”

Professor Beyoglu underscores that the defence of Medina was not merely a battle for the Ottoman governor – it was a sacred trust for Pasha, who refused to grant access to the holy land and the prophet’s tomb to the British.

Refusal to surrender

Even after the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on October 30 1918, which mandated all Ottoman garrisons to surrender, Fahreddin Pasha refused. 

The Pasha continued to defend the city for a further 72 days. He was finally held on January 10, 1919 and exiled by the British first to Egypt, then to Malta for two years, where he refused to remove his Ottoman military uniform. 

A court condemned him to death, but Turkish diplomatic pressure secured his release in April 1921.

A legacy carved in honour

After attending political meetings in Moscow, Fahreddin Pasha returned to Türkiye during the Turkish national struggle. 

On November 9, 1921, the Turkish Grand National Assembly appointed him ambassador to Kabul. He played a key role in strengthening Turkish-Afghan relations before retiring as a major general in 1936.

He passed away on November 22, 1948.

“Fahreddin Pasha’s defence of Medina was more than a military stand. It was the final expression of the Ottoman Empire’s four hundred years as guardians of the holy cities—and a reflection of the Turkish nation’s enduring reverence for the birthplace of Islam,” Professor Beyoglu adds. 

His name endures not only in military history but in the spiritual memory of a people. 

He was a commander who, even in the darkest hours of war, served the Prophet’s tomb and holy city not only with his sword, but with his heart and soul. 

The inscription on his gravestone reflects his creed – ‘Medina’s heroic defender’.