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

236 honored by the glory of islam

Mehmed IV had come to power in an age characterized by the interven-

tion of the military in political affairs, and he would lose power because of a

military coup. What had begun as an insurrection of a few soldiers had turned

into a great rebellion of the imperial army. Soldiers ordered to winter in Edirne

instead marched on the capital. As Silahdar relates, the grand vizier sent a

summary report to the sultan, submitting to him the information that the army

disobeyed his command to winter in Edirne. Instead it rose up, raided his tent,

raised the horse tails of campaign by force, and set off for Istanbul intending

to enthrone the sultan’s brother (2:290). The sultan responded in a fashion

that demonstrated that he understood his reign was effectively over. Although

resigned to his fate, he remained defi ant:

Three times I sent a noble writ assigning them to take winter quar-

ters between Belgrade and Edirne.... In reality, you did not take

notice of it, it is clear from your language and thoughts that you

did not obey and submit. If your desire is to remove me from the

throne, then I desire that my son Mustafa, may he be entrusted to

God, passes to my place; and little Ahmed, may he also be entrusted

to God. After this if you resolve to do me harm, I take refuge in God

from evil. God, whose majesty be exalted, has one noble name and it

is overwhelmingly powerful. My wish from God is that all of you be

overpowered and subjugated. (2:29 1 )

In November the sultan sent a writ to the sheikhulislam complaining that

four times he had written to his grand vizier without response (2:295). The

silence was his clue that his reign was about to end. He asked the sheikhulis-

lam to let him know if the army reached Istanbul. He received no response.

The leaders of the military, administration, and religious hierarchy gathered in

Hagia Sophia to hear the decree read by the deputy grand vizier Köprülüzade

Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, who “asked whether there were any doubts about it being

canonically valid to dethrone a sultan who was occupied with the chase while

the enemy was attacking and occupying the lands of the empire, a sultan who

destroyed and turned everything upside down by trusting a few men of evil

intention, while distancing himself from those who had the ability to under-

stand the solution for these problems.”^6 The “few men of evil intention” may

be a reference to the Kadızadeli preacher Vani Mehmed Efendi and the chief

harem eunuch, Yusuf Agha; the men who “had the ability to understand” were

the Köprülü viziers. The assembly agreed to enthrone Mehmed IV’s younger

brother Suleiman. They established the throne at the Gate of Felicity and took

a reluctant Suleiman from the cage.