172 honored by the glory of islam
He praises the sultan for having waged ghaza and jihad for three decades, for
battling against the miserable infi dels on divinely assisted ghazas. In the eyes
of the author, Mehmed IV is the luminous sun king whose movements are like
the rising of the star and whose light nourishes the seven climes. The natural
disposition of that sun king also inclined toward the chase, and his favorite, so
Mehmed IV made sure to hunt en route and bring his favorite along as well.^29
Abdi Pasha adds that the battles were quite bloody as the Ottoman forces put
all enemy combatants to the sword and killed up to thirty thousand. The Otto-
man soldiers “bravely battled for the honor of the state and religion,” and Meh-
med IV ordered a week of celebration after victory was assured.^30
Vani Mehmed Efendi played a key role in inciting the troops to fi ght. Inthe view of contemporary writers, his words may have been as important as
Ottoman weapons in securing victory. Hüseyin Behçeti records that the “lumi-
nous preacher of pleasing speech” gave sermons after noon worship before the
grand vizier, Janissary commander, and entire assembled army. His peerless
sermons “gave out a light which polished the mujahids and illuminated the
ghazi braves.” In his sermons he explained and expounded on the Qur’anic
verses concerning the Battle of the Ditch, here referred to as a ghaza, and the
treachery of the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe at Medina. First he included Qur’an
33:9–25, verses from The Clans (Al-Ahzab), which derives its name from the
tribes that Jews were accused of trying to incite against the Muslims. A main
theme includes how faith is rewarded with divine assistance on the battlefi eld.
Vani Mehmed Efendi then discussed verses 25–27.^31 They are as follows: “God
turned back the unbelievers in their rage, and they went away empty-handed.
God helped the faithful in the stress of war: mighty is God, and all-powerful. God
brought down from their strongholds those who had supported them from
among the People of the Book and cast terror into their hearts, so that some you
slew and others you took captive.^32 God made you masters of their land, their
houses, and their goods, and of yet another land on which you had never set
before.^33 Truly, God has power over all things.” According to Hüseyin Behçeti,
these words inspired the soldiers to wage ghaza and jihad in the name of the
one God, the true religion of Islam, and God’s messenger, Muhammad.
Desiring to inspire the soldiers to jihad, Vani Mehmed Efendi again repeat-edly discussed the Battle of the Ditch, the betrayal of the Jews and their brutal
end.^34 This time he quoted verses in The Spoils of War (Al-Anfal), which de-
rives its name from the fi rst verse: “The spoils of war belong to God and God’s
messenger.” He recited the following verses (Qur’an 8:55–63):
The basest creatures in the sight of God are the faithless who will
not believe; those who time after time violate their treaties with you