hunting for converts 197
the decision of the sultan or his grand vizier and usually stamped with the seal
of the latter. A typical example follows:
(Second part, acceptance of request and action of grand vizier) God is
everlasting!
It has been recorded.
(Third part, action of palace treasurer) It was commanded that gar-
ments be given according to custom on September 4, 1 686.
(First part, text of petition) Long live his eminence my felicitous and
generous sultan!
Let it be the order of my sultan that garments be bestowed according
to custom to this humble servant who became honored by the glory
of Islam yesterday at the imperial stirrup [before the sultan’s pres-
ence] at Davud Pasha.^38These documents, in which cloth for turbans, like the sultan, was in motion,
commended the sultan’s generosity and fatherlike attributes.
The following document, which includes the information that fi ve newMuslims received material for turbans, is an example of how conversion at the
court was recorded in the third format:
May it be registered in its place.
Benefactions.
An exalted order is commanded to be given to the treasury on the
eleventh of Dhu al-Qa‘da, 1 076 [May 1 5, 1 666] concerning new Mus-
lims who became ennobled by the honor of Islam in the presence of
his eminence the sovereign, who is the Refuge of the Universe, and
at the threshold of his eminence the deputy grand vizier in Edirne.^39Again we see that although “The Statute of the New Muslim” did not mention
the sultan and foresaw religious change being carried out in a prescribed man-
ner before the imperial council or at the grand vizier’s palace in Istanbul, con-
version actually occurred before Mehmed IV wherever the sultan traveled, as
well as before the grand vizier’s deputy and in the palace at Edirne. The sultan’s
entourage always contained offi cials who stored, maintained, and were respon-
sible for bestowing precious cloaks lined with fur. And wherever conversion
occurred and was recorded, the imperial secretary often sprinkled gold dust
on the black ink, a surprising burst of enthusiasm and normative judgment,
particularly when the glittery ore covers petitions of the fi rst, most business-
like kind, the least expressive or celebratory. Again, like the trust deed for the
Valide Sultan Mosque and labels in the margin of the Shariah court records
highlighting the conversion of churches and synagogues to mosques, gold dust