Between Two Worlds Kafadar.pdf

war, it would also conceivably conflict with the pursuit, display, and positive
evaluation of wealth. But in the Anatolian-Muslim frontier narratives, as in the
story of Digenis` where "honour is
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conceived of as going hand in hand with wealth/nobility" and "wealth/ nobility
is an ingredient of both male and female honour,"[74] material prosperity is not
frowned upon.
In the codebook mentioned above, gaza is in fact listed as the most desirable
means, but as one means, of "gaining one's livelihood."[75] The need to share
gaza booty with cooperating infidels is mentioned in the same source in
conjunction with their military services as well as with their assistance in
locating the hidden goods of other infidels.[76] And the gazi narratives are
full of joy and pride with respect to the booty amassed as a result of the
raids, whether they are conducted in all-Muslim armies or not. Some bragging
about or ostentatious display of the booty could even be commendable since
evidently it might encourage others to join the good fight. It might also be one
way of demonstrating the successes bestowed on the warriors of Islam and of
discouraging the infidels, who would thus confront what seems to have been the
strongest practical argument for the supremacy of Islam: if the Muslim faith did
not represent the correct path, would God have allowed Muslims to succeed like
this?[77]
Neither warriors nor schoolmen and dervishes upholding the gaza ideal apparently
saw anything wrong in being explicit about the material dimension of warfare.
There is an account, for instance, of a strikingly explicit bargaining episode
between Orhan Gazi and his manumitted slave Lala Sahin Pasa , who says he would
fulfill a particular military assignment only if all the booty were left to him.
Orhan accepts Sahin's terms but then regrets his decision, and when the ex-slave
commander turns out to be successful, reneges on his promise. In the court of
law, however, Taceddin-i Kurdi , notwithstanding the fact that he is related to
Orhan , enforces the earlier deal that had been struck. The
mid-sixteenth-century scholar Taskoprizade , who relates the possibly apocryphal
anecdote, may have intended primarily to moralize about the responsibilities of
jurists and to remind his readers of the superiority of law over even the
highest secular authority.[78] What interests us here, however, is the fact that
he relates the incident without any hint of disapproval vis-à-vis the bargain
itself. He does not seem to have felt that the reputation of Orhan or that of
Lala Sahin as gazis is at stake.
It was not unbecoming even for a dervish to savor material returns from gaza.
Apz, the dervish-chronicler of the fifteenth century who accompanied many
exploits among the warriors of the faith and personally engaged in some of the
fighting, boasts of the slaves and other objects that fell to his lot. Moreover,
it is not only wealth derived from the pursuit of gaza that one could enjoy with
an easy conscience. Ottoman
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