164 chapter 4
kings (“men who conquer their way to power”, sahib-i zuhur37). Ali stresses that
“as for monarchs of any age, their being ‘The Shadow of God’ is determined by
their conforming to the Sharia”. Ali criticizes ignorant people who sometimes
make an appearance among Turkmens or Tatars and think they can become
kings “with the right to coin and sermon” (B45):
Given that every realm has an established ruler, these people cannot
maintain stability and power unless the possessor of a realm is utterly
tyrannical ... [o]r unless the claimant proves himself superior and more
powerful than the established ruler, and in comparison to him takes
more bribes, so that the non-Muslim and Muslim subjects and the army
all turn against the ruler and dispatch a letter of invitation to someone
who calls himself a celali.Ruling dynasties each have a time-span allotted to them, one which will end
due to the negligence that comes from wine-drinking (by the king), inclina-
tion to accumulate wealth, and falling into the wiles of women. The true trea-
sury of a kingdom is its subjects, neglect of whom will surely lead to the king’s
destruction. A king’s charisma is not in itself sufficient, as the selection of high-
ranking officials can be destructive (B59).
However, whenever the foundation of a state is damaged so that the great
personages turn their thoughts to bribery; whenever kings and ministers
toss aside the safeguarding of the law so that their intelligent subjects,
who seek their rights without having to pay money, rot in corners, dis-
missed from office; whenever unworthy and unprincipled low-brows
who know only how to count out the coinage of bribery are raised day
by day to offices of lofty rank ... then that waterwheel begins to fall and
collapse.Even Osman’s family seem to be insufficient compared to other families of an-
cient warlords: in the charitable foundations endowed by the sultans, in sharp
contrast to the establishments of Evrenos Beg in Rumili, the food is inedible
due to misadministration (T27–28/144–145). Ali comments boldly that
37 “The manifest one”, by which Ali means men not born into a ruling house but who rise to
power by force of arms (n. by Ali – Brookes 2003, 43, fn. 267); cf. Fleischer 1986a, 280ff.).