Sword of Osman

The Eyüp tomb complex was built by Mehmed II in honour of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, a companion of Muhammad who had died during the first Muslim Siege of Constantinople in the 7th century.

The sword girding thus occurred on what was regarded as sacred grounds and linked the newly-enthroned sultan to his 13th-century ancestors and to Muhammad himself.

The Sword of Osman was girded on to the new sultan by the Sharif of Konya, a Mevlevi dervish, who was summoned to Constantinople for that purpose.

Such a privilege was reserved to the men of this Sufi order from the time Osman I had established his residence in Sögüt in 1299, before the capital was moved to Bursa and later to Constantinople.

The fact that non-Muslims were allowed to see the ceremony enabled The New York Times to write an extremely detailed account of it.