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

208 honored by the glory of islam

polytheists known as Christians, he offers a genealogical explanation prov-

ing that the Turks are the (unnamed group) predicted not only in Hadith, but

also the people about whom God speaks in the Qur’an. It is put forward that

because Oghuz Han married Isaac’s daughter, “Turks are the sons of Isaac on

the mother’s side. Just as Jesus is of the sons of Israel, Turks are of the sons

of Isaac.... The name ‘Turk’ is given to the sons of Oghuz Han. They are the

Turkmen” (544b–545a). The message is simple: Abraham had two sons, Isaac

and Jacob/Israel. Those descended from Jacob/Israel, including the Jews,

Christians, and Arabs, have failed in their mission. The sons of Isaac, on the

other hand, represented by the Turks, have succeeded.

Having established through his genealogical discussion that the Turks are

mentioned in the Qur’an, he begins to narrate a history of the conversion of

the Turks to Islam, which is always coupled in his mind with conquest. First he

sets the stage: “[Where the Turks settled] people were Zoroastrians. Muslims

[Arabs] did not fi ght against them, but Turks attacked them. Around 350 [96 1 ]

the [Ismaili Shi‘i] Rafi zi heretics occupied Egypt and Syria, and other than the

Abbasid caliphs, Rafi zied all Muslim rulers. The Byzantines, benefi ting from

this split among Muslims, occupied Muslim lands and reconquered lands pre-

viously conquered by the Muslims” (545a). The entire Muslim world except for

those areas controlled by the Abbasids was in the hands of the Shi‘is. The Shi‘i

Fatimids controlled northern Africa, the Levant, and the Holy Cities. The Shi‘i

Buwayhids controlled Iran. Sunni states were very weak; the Abbasid caliph

was but a fi gurehead. Muslims were in a woeful state, so God made the Turks

Sunni Muslims in order that Turks and Muslims could fulfi ll their destiny:

“Because of this, God completed his bestowal of good upon Muslims and made

the Turks into Muslims with his favor and grace. In 349 [960], Cenk Khan, sov-

ereign of all Turks... became a Muslim. Because he converted, over 200,000

other Turks also converted with his blessing. As a result, learned scholars and

miracle-working sheikhs appeared among them” (545a). But in keeping with

his Kadızadeli ideology, Vani Mehmed Efendi makes no other mention of Sufi s

and makes them equivalent in importance to scholars. Thus he chooses to over-

look the crucial role that Sufi s played in the Islamization of the Turks and lands

conquered by Turks, this vision of Islamic history fi tting in with his generally

anti-Sufi interpretation of Islam. He would not boast of Sufi successes when he

opposed many of their orders and practices. His vision of conversion is linked

to conquest, not Sufi preaching.

Vani Mehmed Efendi continues by explaining the arrival of Turkish Is-

lamizers, “the people of the Sunna” (545b), in India and Anatolia, precipitating

the signifi cant battle at Manzikert, which was the key enabling the Islamization

of lands conquered by Turks: “Then one of the Byzantine emperors named