“The servant proposes and God disposes, and the tongues of the people are the pens of God.” When Sultán Ibrahím disclosed the secret of the expedition to Yússúf Páshá on his departure, he said, “If thou returnest victorious I’ll reward thee according to thy merits:” and indeed it happened so, because the conquest of Canea, an enterprise so difficult, was granted to Yússúf Páshá before the arrival of the enemy’s fleet by a special favour of God, and no reward could equal such merit, but the glory of Martyrdom. He was beloved of God, who first granted him the conquest and then the Martyr’s crown. Praise be to God that I, poor Evliyá, witnessed such a famous siege, and returned safe to my native city. I kissed my parents’ hands, who wished me joy on my safe return. My father said, “The campaign thou hast made now renders my going into the field superfluous.” I said, “My dear father, you have grown old, you have been present at seventy battles since Sultán Súleimán’s time. Pray now for your beloved son, who shall go into battles instead of you.” I kissed his hand, and he then told me the following story, exhorting me to listen to it with the ears of my soul.
“In the year when thou wast born, my son, in the reign of Sultán Ahmed I. a great assembly of seven hundred Vezírs and great men was held at the Hippodrome in order to lay the foundation of Sultán Ahmed’s mosque. They dug from forty to fifty cubits deep, and the walls of the foundations having reached the level of the earth, the Ulemas and Astronomers were assembled, and with the prayers and ceremonies usual in similar cases the position of the mihráb determined. Kalender Páshá was named inspector, Kara Sunbul Alí Efendí, the Secretary, and our Khoja (Evliyá’s reading-master) Evliyá Efendí, Imám of the foundations; the Sheikh of Scutarí, Mahommed Efendí, was named the Sheikh; Mahmúd Chelebí, Kara Mahmúd Agha, and forty other men with fine voices, the Moëzzins of the foundations. One day Sultán Ahmed came, and pitched his tent on that part of the courtyard of the mosque, where there then remained only a single painted Koshk belonging to the Seraï of Koja Mohammed Páshá. Here the Sultán gave a feast to all the Vezírs and great men of the capital, which surpassed even that which was given at the feast of circumcission of Sultán Ahmed. The assembly having retired, there remained in the Sultán’s tent, only Mahmúd Efendí of Scutarí, Evliyá Efendí my master, Kara Sunbul Alí Efendí, Ibrahím Efendí the senior of the surgeons, Dervish Omar Gulshení one of the favourite singers and I, thy poor father, sitting on our heels. The Sultán said unto us, “If it please God this mosque shall be finished, and be a fine praying place, but it requires to be well endowed.” Evliyá and Mahmúd Efendí of Scutarí said, “My gracious Emperor, undertake a military expedition, and then devote the revenues of the conquered land to your new built mosque, as your ancestor Súleimán did, who having in person conquered Rodos, Stancio, and different other islands, devoted their revenues to his mosque, which is, therefore, the best endowed of all the Imperial mosques. If your Majesty should undertake an expedition against Creta (Kiríd), you would protect the passage of Ottoman merchants and pilgrims from the ships of the Infidels. The senior of the surgeons, Ibrahím, and Mahmúd Efendí of Scutari said a Fátihah for this good intention, the seven prayers of which were repeated by all present, who finished it by saying, ‘If it please God our prayer shall be granted.’