ghaza in central and eastern europe 165
dread, Mehmed Khan,” devoted himself fully to striving and waging ghaza
and jihad in person, becoming a sultan whose overriding aim was to launch
ghaza ( 1 b–2a).
Over midway through his narrative, Hajji Ali Efendi elaborates on Meh-med IV’s unique ghazi character. “In truth,” he begins, “the disposition of the
mighty sultan of Islam who causes fear and dread, the deliverer of conquest
and ghaza, Sultan Mehmed Khan,” and his “imperial zeal did not resemble
that of sultans of the past,” for his pious inclination was beyond description
(88a). Moreover, the author of the conquest book links the sultan’s desire to
wage ghaza and the incitement of his preacher, Vani Mehmed Efendi: “Night
and day, as the sultan’s preacher Vani Mehmed Efendi expressed the excellent,
virtuous qualities of ghaza and jihad in his Qur’anic exegesis before the impe-
rial presence, the imperial disposition was polished and made manifest. Other
than ghaza and jihad, he had no other desires in the world” (88a).
For those accustomed to reading of Mehmed IV as a profl igate hunter, thisdescription must come as a surprise. Yet hunting also plays a role in the nar-
rative. Refl ecting Abdi Pasha’s linking of the sultan’s hunting to waging war
and Islamic zeal, the author discusses how the sultan desired to wage ghaza
and jihad and declare his total effort and exertion on this path, and even desire
for battle, and in the next passage without irony notes that the sultan went on
a hunting trip (9b, 1 4a–b). One such trip involved four hundred to fi ve hun-
dred people, including the retinues of the grand vizier and deputy grand vizier
( 1 5b– 1 6a). As in the case of Suleiman I, writers at that time saw no confl ict
between waging war and killing game, in fact seeing the latter as preparation
for the former. The notion that hunting is suitable for warriors, indeed neces-
sary to keep the martial skill sharp, was also taken for granted by warriors else-
where, such as in contemporary Japan.
Other writers shared Hajji Ali’s vision of the sultan’s prowess as ghazi andthe spiritual role of his preacher. Yusuf Nabi, appointed to serve as a secretary
for the campaign, composed a work entitled The Conquest Book of Kamaniça.^5
In its introduction, the writer praises the sultan as the “defender of Islam,”
who is the “sun of the world adorning the summit of majesty, the grandeur of
the halo around the luminous moon” (3a). Because of his piety, Mehmed IV is
referred to as “the zealot of the manifest religion” desiring jihad (3b). The religi-
osity of “the sultan son of a sultan, the deliverer of conquest and ghaza, Sultan
Mehmed Khan Ghazi” incites him to be “the hero who defeats and destroys
the enemy, the master of the auspicious conjunction who conquers lands,” and
“the one who casts fi re upon the homes of rebels and fl oods the households of
polytheists, the wicked, and the disobedient” (3b). These actions bring tranquil-
ity to Muslims because they secure the frontiers of the empire.