Honored by the Glory of Islam. Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe

conversion to piety 117

Warning Christians not to sell alcohol did not deter Muslim drinking. Ac-

cording to this mind-set, taverns had to be razed to the ground to limit their

deleterious effects on the Muslim community. Accordingly, at least twice dur-

ing Vani Mehmed Efendi’s period of infl uence, Fazıl Ahmed Pasha issued or-

ders to raze every tavern in Istanbul and prohibit the Christian and Jewish

alcohol trade. For this reason western European observers such as Covel con-

sidered Vani Mehmed Efendi “the greater preacher who prated down all the

coffee houses and Taverns,” and the one who “preach’d down all publick Tav-

ernes and ale-houses, and the Dervises’ publick meetings.”^51 Abdi Pasha relates

that in 1 670, within a month after the sultan returned from Greece, where he

closely followed the campaign for Crete and spent a great amount of time with

Vani Mehmed Efendi and the sheikhulislam, an imperial edict was issued to

demolish the taverns in the city, prohibit the sale of wine, and abolish the posi-

tion of wine controller (302a).^52 This action demonstrated a direct link between

waging war abroad and enjoining the good and forbidding wrong at home. The

decree was copied into the Shariah records of the city:

At the present time an imperial edict has been issued stating that

the taverns located in the city of Istanbul and Eyüp and Galata and

Üsküdar and in all those districts attached to them are to be demol-

ished and eradicated. Lawful landed properties are to be constructed

in their place. After that no person is to bring wine from within or

without the city, and is not to buy and sell and drink wine. Those who

do so are to be given severe punishment.... It is to be proclaimed

throughout the city that the taverns in Istanbul and the districts

attached to it be demolished and eradicated and that wine not be

bought, sold, or consumed and that severe punishment is to be given

to those engaging in these activities.^53

These actions had fi nancial consequences. The offi ce of wine controller

was a great source of income for the treasury. Abolishing it would have been

a fi nancial mistake for a dynasty and empire facing diffi cult economic straits.

But whatever the dynasty and administration lost fi nancially from its abolition,

it gained in support from the Kadızadelis. Christians and Jews must have suf-

fered graver fi nancial consequences. The entire lucrative trade of the import,

production, sale, and export of wine and spirits was controlled by Christians and

Jews. Extensive vineyards, such as those in Hasköy, Beşiktaş, and Arnavutköy,

were also in their hands. The power of these vintners among Christians and

Jews was a social fact as well. In a petition signed “the poor Christians of Arna-

vutköy” and recorded at the Shariah court of Beşiktaş, the petitioners claimed

that tavern owners demanded money from them and made them sell their