256 chapter 6
When compared to Sivasi, Mehmed İlmi’s works clearly lacked the same
intellectual authority and by no means exhibited a similar breadth of legal
knowledge. Nevertheless, he managed to demonstrate that his ultimate aim in
penning these nasihatnames was to uphold the primacy of the Sharia. Further
dismantling the prototype of the heterodox Sufi sheikh, Mehmed İlmi exhib-
ited his loyalty to correct belief and correct religious practices by referring
to Birgivi as one of the most esteemed scholars of previous times. He rever-
ently mentioned his Vasiyetname as obligatory reading for every believer and
also talked about his Tarikat and the unjust reactions to it by Birgivi’s con-
temporaries (M113). Among the prerequisites for rightful rulership, Mehmed
İlmi emphasized the obligation of the sultan and other judicial authorities to
judge, rule, and punish in proportion to the stipulations of the Sharia (M122).
Proportionality in applying Sharia punishments (hudud) appeared to be an im-
portant concern for Mehmed İlmi, who disapproved not only of excessive sen-
tences but also of inadequate ones that fell short of the Sharia’s stipulations.
Around the same time, Eskici Hasan Dede (d. 1638/39), a Sufi of unknown
affiliation who lived in a mosque that was to become a rallying center for
the Kadizadelis, wrote a Pendnâme (“Book of advice”), presumably for con-
sumption by the audience of his mosque.83 Hasan’s text gives us a glimpse
into the ideas and views of the more popular Sufi preachers; it also departs
from the more “heterodox” view of his Melami counterparts, as Hasan tran-
scends the traditional conflict between the sultan, the worldly king, and the se-
cret spiritual ruler, the “Pole of the world” or “Pole of the poles” (kutb-ı aktâb):
for him, this Pole is nothing but the Quran and the Sharia, which should guide
the sultan to the right path (T266). The author seems to identify himself with
the expounder of these Poles, though, and, perhaps to enhance this view, he
stresses that the sultan must practise consultation (meşveret), here with the
meaning of taking the advice of experienced and pious counsellors in private.
Hasan begins his treatise by stressing the benefits the sultan would gain
from reading texts like his; because the sultan did not give ear to the advice by
old an experienced people, he says, the world fell to affliction and the sultan
himself “almost lost kingship from his hands” (az kaldı saltanat elden gideyazdı,
probably referring to the 1632 rebellion, which would then constitute a further
terminus post quem for the composition of the treatise; cf. T262). Furthermore,
there is an even more important rulership (padişahlık), and that is the eternal
one; power and state (devlet, saltanat) are but a dream of this world. First of
all, therefore, the sultan must be in control of his body; if he has not conquered
83 Terzioğlu 2010.