168 chapter 4
position and glory; for wealthy persons to expend property and goods
for the public weal; certainly for craftsmen to display their artistry and
mastery; and for farmers to harvest canonically lawful food from their
plowed lands. Similarly, there is demand on all sides for the knowledge of
scholars, for the benevolent prayers of the righteous, for the warring and
raiding of men of combat.All classes of people are necessary and their activities commendable, then, but
this does not mean that they should intermingle with each other’s vocation.
Thus, when it comes to social mobility, Ali complains that “the scum (edani;
here meaning “of lower origin”) begins to gain power by lavishing money [in
bribes]” and “the high classes (e’ali) are disappointed and stunned”, while,
more particularly, judges become directors of finances or provincial governors
(T1:66/163). Such interlopers abound in the judicial class: provincial judges are
often ignorants (even “Turks ... of the merchant class”, renc-ber tayifesinden:
T1:75–79/174–80).
Peasants, in particular, attract a great deal of Ali’s attention. Firstly, he
famously stresses that rulers ought to prevent peasants from leaving their
homelands and moving to cities, or at least to collect the due tax (çift-bozan
resmi; T1:57–58/150–51). As in Lütfi Pasha’s case, one gets the impression that
Ali’s main concern is the functioning of the tax-collecting system rather than
the actual welfare of the peasants. Elsewhere (in Mevâidü’n-nefâis), he stress-
es that the reaya should not mix with people in power and that “they should
not become cross by thinking that extrajudicial taxes (tekâlif-i örfiye) are
unprecedented when they are imposed”. Although the corruption of judges
and provincial governors has disrupted the order of the world, the people
should not have permission to bar from their villages beys and judges whom
they do not want, because thus low-born and wicked people “aveng[e] them-
selves on their rulers” (B170–72). This attitude extends to the urban dwellers,
too: concerning the regulation of standard prices, Ali remarks that if this matter
is not administered with equity, it “leads to the enrichment of the lower class
and to the bankruptcy and distress of the military class” (and not, as one would
expect, the further impoverishment of the poor). The farmers go to the big cities
and “break out of the circle of poverty”; this leads their relatives from the prov-
inces to follow their example, and ultimately to the ruin of the timariot sol-
diers, who lose their peasants and have to put up with constantly rising living
costs (Τ2:25–27/141–44).
More generally, like all known authors of his age, Ali clearly stands on the
side of the timariots. The misdeeds of the registrars of the land (kâtibü l-vilâye),
he argues, concerning the evaluation of the value of the timars and their