The death of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (al-Qanuni)

The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Lawgiver (al-Qanuni) died in his tent during the siege of the fortress of Szigetvár in Hungary, after forty-six years of rule in which the Ottoman state reached the summit of its expansion and power.

Suleiman I assumed the sultanate in 926 AH as a young man. He personally led thirteen major campaigns, conquered Belgrade, Rhodes and most of Hungary after the famous victory of Mohács, besieged Vienna, and his rule stretched from Algiers to Iraq and from the Hijaz to the Balkans.

Westerners called him "Suleiman the Magnificent," while the Muslims knew him as "al-Qanuni" for organizing the government departments and administrative laws in accordance with the Shariʿa. In his era the architect Sinan built masterpieces, and the walls of Jerusalem standing to this day were renewed.

On the night of 21 Safar 974 AH (September 1566) he died in his tent during the siege of Szigetvár, nearing seventy. The Grand Vizier concealed the news of his death until the fortress fell, and he was buried in his own mosque, the Süleymaniye, in Istanbul.