12 introduction
Halife served the sultan in one of the wards of the palace and wrote in the
mid- 1 660s, when Mehmed IV fi rst established himself as a warrior king. In a
section of his history entitled “The Praiseworthy Moral Qualities of Our Felici-
tous Sultan,” he claimed that Mehmed IV “acted in accordance with [Qur’an
22:78] ‘Wage jihad for the cause of God, with the devotion due to God,’ and
followed the path of his great ancestors and illustrious forefathers, may God
bless their souls, waging ghaza and jihad and proclaiming the true religion to
unbelievers night and day.”^7 Ahmed Dede, writing in Arabic toward the end of
his reign, labels Mehmed IV “the mujahid, ghazi king, deliverer of conquest
and ghazi.”^8
This book offers a unique lens through which to view seventeenth-centuryOttoman Europe. It is neither a comprehensive historical survey nor a biogra-
phy, but a reinterpretation centered on recognizing the link between conver-
sion and conquest in this period of history. Mehmed IV’s turn to piety, along
with that of his mother, grand vizier, and royal preacher, converted him to a
more rigorous and severe interpretation of Islam. This in turn compelled him
to at least facilitate by means of group ceremonies and at times compel the
conversion of others—Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, following face-to-face
encounters—to his path of Islam. Related to this conversion in both senses, a
revival of faith for those already members and a change of religion for those
not yet believers, Mehmed IV waged war throughout central and eastern
Europe and the Mediterranean, reviving ghaza, and sent his military forces to
conquer many citadels, hundreds of cities, and thousands of villages, leading
campaigns in person as well. In this way, the sultan, enthroned while a child,
became a brave warrior praised for his manliness. He also proved himself as
sultan. While his mother handled ceremonial matters that gave his reign fur-
ther dynastic and Islamic legitimacy and, more important, cover, Mehmed IV
was free to move his court to Edirne, which would serve as his capital for two
decades. There he appointed a court historian and even named the work. This
spatial and symbolic move away from Istanbul and his mother confi rmed the
coming into being of the sultan as man and ruler. He was conscious of the
momentousness of the relocation that would mark his reign and thereafter
wanted a sultan-centered narrative to record what he experienced. In Edirne
he became a good rider and mobile ghazi, leading jihad and the hunt, residing
most often in a tent, rarely setting foot in Topkapı Palace or Istanbul. Contem-
porary writers linked the sultan’s hunting to waging war, pious behavior, and
Islamic zeal. Conversion of self, others, and sacred space and war on the path
of God referred to as both ghaza and jihad are intersecting themes that marked
Mehmed IV’s reign.