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

226 honored by the glory of islam

the city prepared for battle. A commander and a thousand Janissaries were

sent against them. The ringleaders were captured and some banished to Limni

Island, others to the galley, but the rebellion continued.

The reputations of those responsible for the calamitous situation suffered.

Vani Mehmed Efendi was not punished as was the grand vizier, yet the deba-

cle at Vienna, which he had spurred Kara Mustafa Pasha to undertake and in

which he had played a major role inciting the troops to battle, served to end the

infl uence of the one who brought his vision of a reformed Islam to the sultan’s

court as well as dampen support for his followers, the Kadızadelis. Nihadi later

blamed Vani Mehmed Efendi for impudently inciting the sultan to launch the

campaign.^53 As was seen at the beginning of the chapter, in his work completed

just a couple of years before the ill-fated attempt, Vani Mehmed Efendi had in-

terpreted Qur’anic verses and Hadith in a way that promoted religious war for

it led to conquest and the conversion of the population. He saw the campaign

for Vienna as a continuation of this historical effort.

The sultan was upbraided by chroniclers for placing his trust in Vani Meh-

med Efendi. The preacher had been appointed spiritual guide of the army. But

after the defeat, Vani Mehmed Efendi, who had never separated from the sul-

tan or grand vizier for over two decades, journeying with them on the hunt

and military campaigns, was banished. Apparently no one could any longer

stomach his goading to jihad or his harsh criticism of contemporary Muslim

practices. He was sent to his estate, which apparently was a citadel converted

into a palace in the village of Kestel, near Bursa. It is said that he brought many

Kurds there to be near him.^54 There he died soon after. The inscription on his

tomb in the cemetery adjacent to the village mosque included the lines “Angels

composed a chronogram for the death of that eminent one of high rank. ‘Vani

Efendi ascended to the Throne in Paradise,’ ” 1 096 ( 1 685).^55

With the passing of Vani Mehmed Efendi, Mehmed IV again turned to

Mevlevi Sufi s for spiritual guidance. The sultan considered going to Istanbul

for a few days, but he abandoned that wish, saying, “Without taking vengeance

on the enemy of religion, how can I show my face in Istanbul?” (2: 1 92). In 1685

when he did fi nally return to Istanbul, the sultan likely accompanied his chief

astrologer, the Mevlevi Ahmed Dede, twice a week to the reopened Mevlevi

lodge in Beşiktaş, where the two listened to the reading of Rumi’s great work

the Mesnevi and observed the whirling of the dervishes, again practiced in the

capital. While in Davud Pasha the sultan probably also visited the Yenikapı

Mevlevi lodge twice a week. Expenditures from the sultan’s and public treasur-

ies show that the palace again began to favor Mevlevis. Cloth was cut from the

sultan’s own treasury, and meat, bread, oil, and rice were provided to Mevlevi

lodges from the public treasury (2:244). During this period, religious disputes