Khayruddin Pasha Barbarossa

Khidr Ibn Yaqoub Reis or Khayruddin Pasha (1478-1546) also known as Barbarossa (red beard) in the west due to his red beard was born on the Island of Lesbos was one of the greatest naval admirals of the Uthmani (Ottoman) Khilafah and of Islam. He was the scourge of the enemies of Islam in the medeteranean. Khidr Reis was given the title Khayruddin (The best of faith) by the khalifah Sulayman Al Qaanooni due to his prominence as a naval commander and also the rank of "Pasha", a high rank of status in the Uthmani khilafah and also made the head admiral of the Ottoman Navy. As a young sailor he took part in the capture Algiers in 1517 from the Spanish along with the help of Uthmani troops and his brothers.

 

 Subsequently, Khayruddin inherited Algiers from his brothers. He later in 1529 captured Algiers again on his own without his brothers and under the Uthmani name after the Spanish had retaken it. He used to terrorise Spanish and Portugese ships in the medeteranean and attack Spanish held terretories in North Africa as retaliation for what was happening to the Muslims in Spain during that time. The Muslims were being persecuted by the Christians, and Khayruddin seeked to aid them as much as he could. It was in 1529 that he helped some 70,000 Muslims escape from Spain as they were being persecuted and forced to accept Christianity. Khayruddin would also continuously launch naval raids against the Byzantine held Greece and Italian states to further aid the Muslim conquest into Europe. Khayruddin originally acted with a few other Muslim's who had not pledged allegience to any khalifah but in 1519, Khayruddin gave bayah to the Uthmani khalifah Sulayman Al Qaanooni. Now Khayruddin could further advance against the Christians with help from the Uthmani khilafah. Khayruddin managed to secure many seas and waters for the Uthmani khilafah. Khayruddin helped to capture many greek islands in the medeteranean.

 

He was feared in the Christian lands and played a vital role in securing the victory of the Uthmani's on land as he could control sea routes that could be used to supply the Christian and could stop Christian ships from trading and looting Muslim lands in North Africa, the gulf and south east asia. Khayruddin would capture many spanish forts and capture much spoils of war for the Uthmani khilafah and cause heavy losses to the enemies of Islam in Europe. Khayruddin's main apponents were the Spanish, portugese and the Habsburg alliance. Khayruddin was allowed to continue ruling over Algiers which he eventually gave to his son. He retired in 1545 out of old age and eventually died in 1546. Yet another mujahid who fought ferociously like Khalid Ibn Walid but did not die in battle. Some of his famous battles are:

Battle of Preveza
This was a naval battle where he won against numerically superior alliance of Christian nations with 122 and 12,000 troops against around 300 ships and 60,000 Christian soldiers.

In 1529 he captured the Spanish held island of Penon de velez de la gomera and this made sure that he could help many muslims escape from spain into North Africa.

In 1537 he captured the Otranto and Ugentro from the Kingdom of Naples.

In 1540, Charles V, the Spanish king tried to bribe Khayruddin with lands and money to switch sides but the mujahid refused, so Charles attempted to attack the seat of Khayruddin in Algiers but his fleet was heavily damaged by storms and after some fighting in Algiers the Spanish lost and retreated.