The Spirit of Justice The Treatise of Defense (Müdâfaa Risâlesi)
Analysis, Translation, and Critical Edition
This study presents the critical edition and analysis of Müdâfaa
Risâlesi, authored by Taşköprülüzâde Ahmed Efendi (d. 968/1561),
one of the most prolific figures of the sixteenth-century Ottoman intellectual
tradition. Written in 958/1551, shortly after his resignation
from the office of judge in Istanbul, the treatise reflects the author’s
judicial experience and stands not merely as a response to accusations
directed against him, but as an original manifesto of “judicial ethics”
integrating jurisprudence, ethics, and Sufism.
In the introduction, Taşköprülüzâde analyzes the ontological structure
of the human being through the duality of the soul (realm of command)
and the body (realm of creation). According to him, the first
condition of justice is that the judge must establish the dominance of
the soul over the carnal faculties -such as anger and lust- within his
inner world. Building on this metaphysical foundation, he addresses
criticisms including his preference for forbearance over anger, his reliance
on the outward reliability of witnesses, and his refusal to comply
with the rulers’ policy-oriented notion of siyāsa. In doing so, he employs
both rational and juristic arguments, emphasizing that the judge
must rule independently of political authority and solely on the basis
of the soundest interpretations of the Sharīʿa, thereby underlining judicial
independence and the supremacy of law.
The “Conclusion” (Khātima) extends this vision of personal and institutional
justice into a social framework. Taşköprülüzâde argues that
the duty of commanding right and forbidding wrong (amr bi’l-maʿrūf
wa nahy ʿani’l-munkar) is the guarantee of the ideal social order. Here
he carefully distinguishes the authority of the judge from that of the
muḥtasib (public moral inspector), stressing that adjudication is the
judge’s task, whereas the supervision of public morality falls under
administrative responsibility. With this comprehensive approach, the
treatise emerges not only as a personal defense but also as a fundamental
text on sixteenth-century Ottoman thought concerning justice,
ethics, and society.
Keywords: Sufism; Judicial Ethics; Ottoman Moral Thought; Philosophy
of Justice; Taşköprülüzâde Ahmed Efendi
