A History of Ottoman Political Thought Up to the Early Nineteenth Century

“Mirrors for Princes”: The Decline Theorists^167

“Turks” entering the ulema ranks is regarded as a sign that the system is
finely tuned:

Whether [the graduates of the medreses] be a poor son of the Turks or

a wealthy man, whether a lowly sort blessed with comprehension or one

of the privileged, by following the orderly path they attained the rank

permitting them to be called learned (B67–74).

After all, one should be able to get along well with both high and low, as people

are all brothers in their humanity, friends in their familiarity and rela-

tions, neighbors in their closeness to one another, equals in their talents

and capabilities, and kinsmen of body and soul in respect to their blood

relationship (T2: 2:101–102/234–36).

On the other hand, at other points Ali appears much more adamant in favoring
social and professional compartmentalization. Like the anonymous author of
Kitâbu mesâlîh, Ali places great importance on sartorial signs and, more gener-
ally, on luxury as a marker of class differentiation. When criticizing the waste
created by excessive use of gold thread in textiles (Τ2:41–42/164), he notes that,
after all,

if everybody would conduct himself according to his profits and income,

high and low could be clearly distinguished from one another.

In a similar way, one should be cautious against an overabundance of food at
banquets and excessive liberality in such meals; the same goes for furnishings,
clothes, houses, and horses, when one is not in harmony with his rank (there
are detailed descriptions in Mevâidü’n-nefâis: B137–139 and 143–144).41 In mak-
ing these normative descriptions, Ali divides society into four distinct classes,
namely sultans and princes, viziers and governors, notables of the realm who
are considered to be among the middling ranks, and, finally, artisans, mer-
chants, and craftsmen (B137). He observes (B37–38) that

God made members of the human race dependent upon one another

through the diversity of crafts and abilities ... The sultans of the world ...

absolutely need every single man of trade and must have recourse to

them ... There is certainly a need for the kings and princes to assign

41 See also Tietze 1982.