The Imperial Heyday 107
quoting Hanafi authorities, thereby reverting to the conclusion that judges are
authorized to apply “political laws” (A146–151, T65–70). Judges, therefore, can
use secular legislation; so may secular administrators, who (in a list of cases
such as punishing an adulterous woman or a thief without waiting for proof
according to the Sharia, according to al-Iraki and al-Mawardi) can act inde-
pendently of Islamic judges and even surpass them (A152–57, T71–76). To jus-
tify this transgression, Dede Cöngi again uses Hanafi theory and practice (for
instance, an administrator trusting his officers is analogous to a judge hearing
a single witness of clear impartiality).
Providing further arguments in favor of permitting occasional transgres-
sions of the strict prerequisites of the Sharia, Dede Cöngi stresses that crimi-
nals should never go unpunished due to lack of evidence, even if there is no
canonical regulation on their imprisonment (A157–166, T77–87). The point of
delegating authority to the administrator (A165: mevzû’-ı velâyet-i vâlî; T85) is
to stop corruption and tyranny, and this cannot be done without punishment,
while the judge’s task is only to decide on the criminals’ guilt; on the other
hand, the competence of administrators (ehl-i harb) may cover that of judges,
or vice versa, according to customs or circumstances (T85–86). Dede Cöngi
also mentions the obligation to “command right” (A170, T97: emr-i bi’l-ma ’rûf ),
perhaps as another reason for an administrator to yield power.
There is more than just the title of the work that connects it to Ibn Taymiyya:
the emphasis on moral decay as a justification for the expansion of state
authority to punish criminals, as well as the expansion of the coercive power
of the state in order to re-establish the control of Muslim ethics over soci-
ety, are aspects of Ibn Taymiyya’s thought often distorted by present-day
assumptions.22 On the other hand, it is evident that not only the conclusions
and underlying principles of Dede Cöngi’s work, but also the specific exam-
ples and cases he cites, point to Ottoman realities, and particularly to the legal
synthesis effectuated under Süleyman by Ebussu’ud. Especially telling is the
emphasis he places on historical change and the need for the Sharia (or, at
least, fikh) to adapt to it. It was not for nothing that the ulema opposition relied
heavily on the old aversion to innovation.
Another work by Dede Cöngi, composed again in Arabic, concerns the cor-
rect ways of distributing state expenses according to sources of income. The
work, Risâla f î amwâl bayt al-mâl (“Treatise on the wealth of the public trea-
sury”) was presented to Prince Mustafa, Süleyman’s son who was executed in
1553; it presents the established views of fikh scholarship (again with abundant
22 Belhaj 2013.