The Eighteenth Century: the Traditionalists 363
whom they recruit as if they were their slaves61 and force them to serve as sol-
diers (tahte’l-kahr). In contrast, in Muslim countries it is impossible to compel
people to become soldiers, although their zeal for Holy War makes them will-
ing and efficient; even if they are defeated occasionally, they would never sub-
mit to having their enemies teaching them the military arts.
Thus, Vasıf maintains that even in his time the Ottoman army was naturally
superior to the European ones. How, then, can the continuous victories of the
infidels be explained? The answer he gives to this question is that the occa-
sional victories of the infidels are a result of satanic hosts granting them tem-
porary success (müzavele-i şeytaniyye mülabesesiyle hasıl olan kuvvet-i istidrac).
This temporary success (istidrac), in fact a divine stratagem to lure the infidels
onto the road to perdition,62 cannot last long and is not durable. Moreover,
the weapons of the infidels are no different from those already known: their
eventual defeat is certain.
Vasıf then proceeds to provide a subtle theological distinction to support his
argument. Victory and defeat depend upon God’s will, although the Christians
believe the opposite. More particularly, the infidels think that war belongs
to the category of particular events (umur-ı cüziyye) with which—according
to them—God has no connection (medhali olmayup). Thus, they claim that
victory belongs to whoever is better prepared for combat (tedarük-i esbab-ı
münaveşe), here meaning in terms of weapons, strategies, provisions, etc. To
reject this claim, Vasıf gives examples from Ottoman history in which inade-
quate preparations of the Ottomans did not prevent them from beating the in-
fidels. On the other hand, he writes, the Ottomans must strive to achieve these
ends and, Vasıf says, this is now happening (presumably through the reforms
initiated by Halil Hamid Pasha, his patron). Hence, these means will undoubt-
edly be perfected, as the grand vizier has been entrusted by the sultan with
the task of preparing what is needed for the army, multiplying the number
of soldiers, and reducing state expenses. On the contrary, the French propos-
als are not to be trusted, since there can be no trusting Christian countries.
For instance, when asked where this proposed training would take place the
French ambassador suggested Crete, so it is obvious that France wishes to gain
a foothold on the island for its own reasons.
61 Significantly, Vasıf uses the same verb that was used for the collection of boys for the
janissary corps: abd-ı müşteraları gibi ... devşirüp.
62 Redhouse’s dictionary defines istidrac as follows: “God’s inciting a sinner to perdition little
by little by granting success at the beginning of his sin”; cf. Menchinger 2014b, 147: “a theo-
logical concept whereby God gives unbelievers success, making them prideful, in order to
lure them to damnation and test believers’ fidelity”.