An Alternative Panorama of the Early Modern Ottoman Empire: Ruins and Sickness in Quṭb al-Dīn al-Nahrawālī’s Journey to the Sublime Porte

Abstract

My article gives a close reading of Journey to the Sublime Porte (al-Fawāʾid al-sanīya fī al-riḥla al-madanīya wa-l-rūmīya) by Quṭb al-Dīn al-Nahrawālī (1511/12-1582). Journey to the Sublime Porte narrates the journey that al-Nahrawālī undertook from Mecca to Istanbul in 1558. The earlier scholarship has analyzed this work as a historical source to generate insights on the sixteenth-century Islamic world or on al-Nahrawālī’s life. Instead, like a work of literary criticism, my article analyzes Journey to the Sublime Porte to flesh out important textual patterns in the travelogue. Al-Nahrawālī claims that cities such as Alexandria and Cairo have fallen into a ruinous state. He also notes that some ruins in Alexandria were transported into Istanbul so that they can be used for the construction of the Suleymaniye complex in Istanbul. With its splendid constructions such as the Suleymaniye, Istanbul seems different from Cairo and Alexandria that have fallen into ruins. However, a close attention to descriptions of Istanbul reveals another picture. In Istanbul, al-Nahrawālī witnesses that prominent people like Hurrem Sultan and Ahmet Celebi fall sick and even die. Al-Nahrawālī does not openly criticize the Ottoman Empire; however, his work suggests that the empire has not achieved an ideal order, because cities like Cairo and Alexandria fell into ruination and someone like Ahmet Celebi who shows a high respect for Arabic language and poetry becomes embroiled within court conflicts. For a period often associated with order and control, my article pays attention to a travelogue that provides an alternative panorama of the early modern Ottoman Empire that foregrounds ruins and sickness.