LUTFI. PASA, ON THE OTTOMAN CALIPHATE by Hamilton A. R. Gibb Cambridge, Mass. Hellmut Ritter zum 70. Geburtstage So long ago as I929, Dr. Ritter, in the course of one of his invaluable surveys of manuscript collections at Istanbul, drew attention to a risrila of the Grand Vizier Lutfi Pa~a (d. 970/I562) on the question whether the titles of Imam and Xalifa could be applied to a sultan of non-Qura~i descent (Der Islam, 38, p. 53 n.-54). 1 From this manuscript, numbered Aya Sofya 2276 and entitled Xalri$ al-umma fi maCrifat al-a)imma, he quoted a section of the opening paragraph and the colophon, signed by Lutfi Pa~a on Sunday, I3 Rama<;lan, 96I, both in Persi.an. Two or three years ago, through the kindness of Dr. Tarik Z. Tunaya, I received a photograph of MS. Aya Sofya 2277, which contains the cor­ responding Arabic text with an interlinear Turkish translation, and signed also by Lutfi Pa~a on the same date. The manuscript consists of 25 folios, II X I61 cm., numbered I-24, the page following fol. I8 having been omitted in the numbering. The Arabic text is written in a bold and clear nasx, with a few words rendered partly illegible by overwriting, two marginal additions, and occasional grammatical errors of no great importance. The interlinear Turkish translation is in a smaller riqca hand. Without inspection of both originals there is nothing to indicate the relationship of the Arabic and Persian texts to one another, but the sections quoted by Dr. Ritter are identical in substance. The character and the significance of the treatise will be most clearly appreciated from the following translation of the first pages: [2a] "Everlasting praise to Him to whom it belongs and blessing and praise upon His Prophet, and prayer for the Imam of the Age upon His earth-O God, be pleased with him and those who follow him. After praise to God and blessing upon the Apostle of God, I have begun and 1 There is a bare reference to this work by Fu'ad Kopriilii in Tiirkiyat Mecmuasl, vol. I, Istanbul 1925, p. 142, followed by a brief critical analysis of Lutfi Pa~a's works on ~a''i'Yiit. 288 Hamilton A. R. Gibb set forth in order the substances of the concepts (ma<ani) together with their attributes, and prayer for the Imam of the Age, he who stands in the place of the Apostle of God, the defender of the corps of Islam, strong to aid the Faith of God, who is in no need of descriptions [2b] and titles, he in whom all nobilities and titles find their highest boast, to wit, the Sultan of the people of aI-Islam and the communities of the nations, the subjugator of the infidels and repeller of oppression, a just imam in the maintaining of the congregational prayers and the festivals, the coura­ geous and excelling, who holds fast to the command of God, who governs the affairs of His servants, who has maintained in order the $ar<i laws and reformed the <urfi diwans, who is characterized by divine felicity and accompanied by the infinite providence, the Sultan son of the Sultan son of the Sultan, Sultan Sulaiman Xan, son of Selim Xan, son of Bayezid Xan-may God Most High lengthen his life and cause him to attain what he wills in his earthly life and his hereafter, Amen, 0 Answerer of the petitioners. I have entitled it The Salvation of the Com­ mlmity [3a] concerning knowledge of the Imams, by the providence and aid of God Most High. "To proceed, this is an organized treatise to set forth clearly the condition of the Community since the (Abbasid Caliphs, down to the present time and hereafter, and whether it is permissible to apply the name of Imam and Xalifa to the sultans when they are of other than Qurai~. The reason for assembling these matters relating to the Faith and made necessary by authoritative tradition (al-lazimati s-sam(i) is that certain of the noblest of the a§raf put the question to me one day, for the removal of dubiety, and cessation of doubt and acquisition of cer­ tainty (and among them some of the eminent men), in order to obtain decisive proof, citing as argument the statement of (Omar an-Nasafi and Sa (dad din at-Taftazani. They said, "What is the condition of the Com­ munity after the (Abbasid Caliphs? For a man, when he becomes by general agreement and conquest a sultan, of other than Qurai~, will be a Sultan, without disagreement; but is it permissible to apply the name of Imam and Xalifa to him or not? Because (Omar an-Nasafi has said in his <Aqida 'The Imam is of Qurai~ and may not be of other than Qurai~', and how can this statement be consonant with the state of the Community and of the sultans? If this statement be correct, then the condition of the Muslims is a matter of uncertainty when they die without having known the Imam of their time, and their death is a death of the Cahiliya. Is this statement correct or not?" "So at their invitation I have devoted myself to this high quest and have thoroughly studied the books of high repute which separate out .