166 honored by the glory of islam
Yusuf Nabi praises the sultan for daring to go to Kamaniça in person, tolaunch a diffi cult and arduous campaign to a distant land untouched by “the
hooves of the horses of the ghazis” (6 1 a). Because the hooves of his horse hit
the ground in Poland, it would be forevermore Ottoman territory. Previous sul-
tans had never considered such a campaign, being content to exchange gifts
of friendship with Christian kings. Who would decide to launch a campaign
against the incomparable and diffi cult to conquer citadel, so strong and excep-
tional that when the “eye of the epoch gazes around the world,” it fails to fi nd
its peer? (29a) To Nabi, only Mehmed IV, a sultan exalted in zeal, possessor of
the overpowering might of a conqueror and falcon claws, could grasp the sig-
nifi cance of conquering the citadel (6 1 b).
Yusuf Nabi uses well-chosen avian imagery when describing the sultan,his preacher, and the defenders in the citadel. He refers to Mehmed IV as
a falcon and hawk and Vani Mehmed Efendi as a nightingale. No longer “a
blindfolded falcon” or “an inexperienced white hawk who has no knowledge
of the world,” or even “a lion who has not yet hunted,” the sultan is “the high
fl ying royal falcon” (6a). This apt imagery causes the reader to imagine an
active, powerful, and ruthless attacker. Like a person possessed of equanim-
ity, a falcon stays aloft in a single spot. But then, like a focused warrior, it
suddenly and swiftly attacks its target. Like Mehmed IV, a falcon both hunts
and kills his prey. At the same time, the interpretation and explanation of the
Qur’an and Hadith of the “sultan’s personal preacher, the Sheikh Mehmed
Vani,” is compared to a nightingale singing in a colorful rose garden (8a–b).
This is also apt imagery, for it offers the reader a sense of tranquil, sublime
beauty that contrasts well with the violent image of the falcon sultan swoop-
ing down upon his prey, joined by his soldiers who are also described as men
like falcons on the fi eld of ghaza, or Janissary falcons (33b, 5 1 a). They attacked
a citadel that was an abode of irreligious infi dels and “the nest of polytheist
crows and kites” (38b).
Finally, the author of The Conquest Book of Kamaniça also deploys genderedlanguage and concepts which again display the links between manliness, war-
fare, and conversion. Kamaniça is “an impregnable citadel” (28a). But it stood
no chance, being attacked by thousands of manly braves who staked their lives
for the cause of ghaza, sacrifi cing and exerting religious zeal, never considering
the possibility of dying (38b). When they beheld the city within the citadel, they
felt a sense of wonder and disgust. They marveled at the strange public build-
ings, curious monasteries, eminent homes, unassailable palaces, and wide
plazas (29b). Accordingly, they converted those areas into “places of beauty of
the ghazis” and “places of worldly pleasure of the believers” (38b). The terms
the author uses for “places of beauty” also mean the bride’s apartment where