“Political Philosophy” and the Moralist Tradition^73
the administration of oneself or one’s soul (siyâsat-i nafs), one’s household
(siyâsat-i khâssa), and the commons (siyâsat-i ‘âmma). Cahrami considers a
strong ruler necessary for good administration and presupposes that he has
full control of his state; thus, he stresses the need for him to maintain not only
high moral standards but also complete physical health, which is placed above
the sultan’s piety as the latter is permitted to drink wine. Like Bitlisi, Cahrami
also produces a synthesis of Tusian ethical theory with the “mirror of princes”
style of advice: he distinguishes the “ruling elite” (khâssa) into inner (andarûn)
and outer (bîrûn); the latter, in turn, consists of ten governmental offices, for
which the author gives specific principles. Further into the sixteenth century,
Muzaffar b. Osman al-Barmaki, better known as Hızır Münşi (d. 1556), was
serving at the court of a local dynasty in Azerbaijan before fleeing (probably
because of Safavid interference and his own Sunni allegiances) first to Georgia
in 1533 and then to Trabzon. His work (Akhlâq al-atqıyâ wa sifât al-asfiyâ or
“The noblest ethics and the purest qualities”, dedicated to Süleyman) was com-
posed in an eclectic style, as it copies from different sources (including Tusi
and al-Ghazali); its content covers the three areas of ethics (individual, house-
hold, politics) discussed by Tusi and his followers. What is interesting is that in
his case (as, one may remember, in Tursun Beg’s) the political part comes first,
while subsequent parts mostly discuss the virtues of the individual.28
There was still to be a major expounder of the “philosophical trend”, who
was to be the most systematic and comprehensive of all, even if we consider
his work to be the swansong rather than the heyday of this trend. The son of a
kadi and poet, Kınalızade Ali Çelebi (1510–72) had a formidable education and
a prodigious career. He studied in Istanbul and became an assistant (mülazim)
to the şeyhülislam (1539–41) Çivizade (d. 1547, a strong opponent of Sufi thought
and especially of Ibn Arabi, and who was dismissed for attacking a number of
Sufi icons).29 Having eventually submitted his works to the opponent of the
latter, Ebussu’ud Efendi, Kınalızade was appointed as müderris in various me-
dreses in Edirne, Bursa, Kütahya, and, finally, Istanbul. In 1563 he was sent as a
judge to Damascus, then to Cairo, Bursa, and Edirne. In 1570 he was appointed
judge of Istanbul, and next year Anadolu kazaskeri. His son, Kınalızade Hasan
Çelebi, was the author of a famous collection of poets’ biographies.
Kınalızade wrote various treatises on fikh, history, correspondence, and
Islamic law. His most important work, however, is the famous Ahlâk-ı Alâî
(“Sublime ethics”). Composed in 1563–65 when the author was a judge in
Damascus (where he also discussed his work with Mustafa Ali, then divan
28 Yılmaz 2005, 104–107 (on Cahrami) and 101–104 (on Hızır Münşi).
29 On Çivizade and his views see Repp 1986, 244ff. and cf. below, chapter 3.