162 chapter 4
ancient caliphs. In the second chapter (T1:66–86/163–88), Ali deals with the
disorder (ihtilal) of his time and the eight ways it happens, all of which are
because of practices contrary to the old customs. The third chapter (Τ2:9–47/
119–73) sounds quite similar, as it discusses “the weaknesses in the general situ-
ation (ahval-i cumhur) as caused by certain evil abuses”; these abuses, how-
ever, are not alterations of the old law, as are those in the previous chapter,
but the misdeeds of established officers. The book ends with a kind of auto-
biography (T2:48–95/174–224), obviously with the main aims of stressing Ali’s
education and skills that allow him to give advice and of illustrating the state
of decline described in the previous chapters. Here, he states explicitly his bit-
terness due to not achieving the high posts for which he was fit and which had
been promised to him (T2:70ff/196ff ). Finally, an epilogue (T2:96–109/225–46),
divided into ten sections, gives various piece of advice, addressed not to kings
and viziers but to their servants (throughout this epilogue, one may discern
Ali’s familiarity with Tusi-style moral treatises and especially with the sections
on household economics). A simple comparison with earlier treatises shows
how innovative is the very structure of Nushatü’s-selâtîn: instead of dividing
his treatise into parts on the sultan, viziers, the army, and so forth, Ali straight-
forwardly sets out to describe the present disorder, enumerating the weakness-
es and shortcomings of the function of government against a standard set, in
general, in the past.
Ali also discusses some of these issues, and especially advice for kings’
and notables’ servants, in one of his final books, Mevâidü’n-nefâis fi kavâidi’l-
mecâlis (“Tables of delicacies concerning the rules for social gatherings”), com-
posed in 1599–1600 while in Jedda and Mecca as a reworking and expansion of
a book he had written in 1587.34 An exceptionally fascinating work, Mevâidü’n-
nefâis is a collection of rules, descriptions, and advice not only for “social gath-
erings”, as stated in its title, but also on issues as diverse as rulership, travel,
musical instruments, slaves, food, and Sufism.
2.1 Innovations, Abuses, Disorders: the Ottoman World According to Ali
Although his emphasis on the “old law” differentiates him from earlier defend-
ers of the old order, Ali still shares with Hirzü’l-mülûk a distrust of viziers and
their delegation of power. His urging of rulers not to give over the affairs of
the state (umur-i mülk) to eunuchs, mutes, and other courtiers (T1:41/127) is
a direct attack on Murad III, but in his general view regarding sultanly power
34 The work has been published in transcription (Ali – Şeker 1997) and English transla-
tion (Ali – Brookes 2003), though it has not yet drawn the scholarly attention it deserves
(cf. Salgırlı 2003).