52 chapter 1
rule, since the latter is something approaching prophecy (Y67–69). The sul-
tan has to remember that his power is only transitory and that he must not
seek it for himself; real power belongs to God (Y82–105). Should a ruler neglect
these guidelines, his power is doomed: when the religious people forget their
obligation to “command right and forbid wrong”, when hypocrites and cor-
rupted and oppressive people are the king’s companions, when they increase
taxes and impose innovations, take fees from travelers and merchants (Y77),
and in general use their position to amass wealth from both licit and illicit
sources (halaldan ve haramdan), then the sultan is doomed, if not in this world
then surely in the next. Similarly, in a chapter praising God’s rulership (T698ff,
E262ff ), Sinan Pasha names the sultan “God’s caliph”, but only in order to stress
that this means he has to follow God’s orders and administer justice; justice
and the good morals of a sultan will make his realm prosper and his life be
prolonged. Only Kadı Fadlullah seems to imply that the current rulership was
similar to prophecy or the caliphate since he claims that “at first, kingship was
upon the prophets, then it passed over to caliphs, and then to sultans” (A142:
evvel saltanat peygamberlerdeydi; andan hulafa andan padişahlar üstine düşdi).
This emphasis on the dependence of rulership upon the ruler’s ethical per-
fection also had a practical side: the ruler needed to achieve moral perfection
and justice for the sake of his subjects and as the only way to keep his realm
under control. In this regard, one might find a parallel with Aşıkpaşazade’s or
Yazıcıoğlu’s opposition, where an unjust ruler risked not only his own downfall
but also a disastrous collapse of the whole society he governed because his
injustice was reflected in his subjects’ corruption, and vice versa. A simile with
the human body, very common across the history of Ottoman political ideas,
helps Şeyhoğlu express the idea of interdependency between the ruler and his
subjects: he is like the heart in the body, so if he is upright then the people will
be upright, too. All the rest of his subjects are, in degrees (tefafütince), like the
veins, sinews, bones, muscles, and hairs. Thus, as, in the human body, the limbs
need the heart and vice versa, so are subjects, officers, and rulers interconnect-
ed and dependent on each other (Y92–93). Sinan Pasha expresses the same
idea when he says that the king must treat his subjects with justice, neither
punishing the innocent nor forgiving the guilty; his personal behavior reflects
on the state of the realm. That is why the ancient kings of Greece and of Persia,
whenever a powerful enemy or internal disorder seemed to be prevailing, first
mended their own ways and abandoned entertainment (T692). Sultans should
obey God’s orders so that everybody will obey theirs (T720ff, E269ff ).
Justice, then, is the key virtue that holds a realm together. For Ahmedi,
Bayezid I established justice and equity in the country (adl ü dad) and, “since
the people received that justice from him, whether big or small (ulu kiçi ise),