“Mirrors for Princes”: The Decline Theorists^161
history of the Islamic world from 622 to 1592.31 As Cornell Fleischer has shown,
this work is a fine example of “dynastic cyclism”: dynasties follow a pattern of
rise and fall, as they acquire wealth and allow injustice to spread.32 The dif-
ference with the Khaldunist version of such cyclical theories, which, as shall
be seen, would be introduced some 50 years later, is that Ali does not use the
notion of historical laws; instead, he prefers to stress the more traditional ideas
of justice and piety. Ali himself stresses that he compiled the work in order
to show how kingdoms can be corrupted and how their fall can be prevented
(D60). After laying down some rules for government, based on medieval “mir-
rors for princes”, he gives a summary of every Muslim dynasty, focusing on the
causes of the decline of each. While some of these causes have to do with spe-
cific events, others pertain to his political views. Thus, the Ummayads declined
because of their greed for earthly wealth and because they did not pay proper
attention to the counsel of wise men; the Abbasids, because they did not pro-
tect their people from the Mongol invasions; the Ghaznavids, because they
let women and eunuchs interfere in state affairs, changed their officials often,
and let governors and high-ranking men become impoverished; the kings of
Shirvan, because of their tyranny and oppression towards their subjects; and a
large number of other dynasties, because of civil wars between brothers.
As far as it concerns political thought, however, Ali’s main work is “Counsel
for sultans” (Nushatü’s-selâtîn, often quoted as Nasîhatü’s-selâtîn). Completed
in 1581, with minor additions added by 1586, it became fairly popular (with
nine known manuscripts, among which one is dated 1627 and another 1698),
while its publication by Andreas Tietze in 1979–82 must be seen as one of the
most influential editions of Ottoman literary works in recent decades.33 In the
tradition of Hirzü’l-mülûk and other similar works, Ali uses his experience in
the middle ranks of the financial and military bureaucracies, and especially his
participation in the eastern campaigns, to provide practical advice. The struc-
ture of the work is interesting: it begins with a preface on the importance of
justice and the responsibilities of sultans (Τ1:17/89–37/120), and an introduc-
tion (T1:37–40/121–25) showing God’s special favors bestowed on the Ottoman
dynasty. Then, following perhaps the inşa ’ model of lists, as seen in chapter 3,
Ali organizes his chapters around such lists or items (the same model is fol-
lowed in his Künhü’l-ahbâr). Thus, the first chapter (T1:41–65/126–62) discuss-
es issues necessary for kings, as presented by previous Ottoman rulers or the
31 Ali – Demir 2006; cf. Fleischer 1986a, 177–178 and 301ff.; Şeker 1995.
32 Fleischer 1983, esp. 206–216.
33 Ali – Tietze 1979–1982. See also Fleischer 1986a, 95–105; Fodor 1986, 224–225; Gökbilgin
1991, 199–201; Yılmaz 2003a, 304–306; İnan 2009, 114–115; Black 2011, 260–262.