182 chapter 4
be more highly valued than any other qualities;65 in war, a stratagem is worth
more than courage and might (I263–66).
Part of Akhisari’s advice comes from his Persian models and belongs to
traditional adab literature: for instance, he notes that the king should pun-
ish oppressors and collect taxes with justice, choose an able and wise vizier,
esteem the ulema, respect and take care of his father and predecessor’s friends
and supporters in order not to make enemies, and so on. What differentiates
Usûlü’l-hikem from previous similar works is the degree to which Akhisari man-
ages to integrate the now almost commonplace ideas of “decline” within a tra-
ditional model, without the stylistic and structural innovations introduced by
Ali. Thus, having described the world order, he claims that it has been turned
upside-down. A nation (kavm) is not destroyed as long its deeds are governed
by equity, justice, and uprightness; provided this happens, God Almighty
does not change His favor contained in the order He has ordained (nizam ve
intizamlarında olan ni’met ve afiyetini). So, Akhisari explains that he set out to
examine all signs of “sedition and confusion” that had happened in the past
ten years or more, since A.H. 980 (1572/3), in order to discover their causes
and meaning. There are three of these: first, the negligence shown in govern-
ing with justice and mild administration (hüsn-i siyaset), due to unfit people
having obtained high offices; second, that statesmen neglect taking counsel
because their pride makes them despise the ulema; and third, that discipline
and military ability have been waning in the army because the soldiers have
no fear of their superiors. The ultimate source of these is twofold: greed for
bribery and submission to the words of women.
Like Ali or Lütfi Pasha, Akhisari connects the compartmentalization of so-
ciety with the maintenance of world order. One of the causes of the present-
day disorder, he argues, is that since the year 1001 (1592/3) reaya and artisans
from towns and villages were forced to join the army; as a result, the urban
economy was ruined and prices increased tenfold. If the sultan is to care as
in the old times, i.e. according to the Sharia, everyone should do only what is
ordained to the class to which they belong, or else the dynasty will be weak-
ened and power may even pass to another family. Furthermore, since disorder
appeared in Ottoman lands, high positions started to be given to unfit persons,
and he expresses his wish that the course of things would instead return to “the
right manner and the old law” (uslub-ı kavim ve kanun-i kadim; I256–57). This
emphasis on the “old law” is also a feature that differentiates Akhisari’s advice
from previous adab-style works.
65 It may be recalled here that Celalzade based consultation on reason rather than piety
(Şahin 2013, 241).