The Image of a Muslim Judge (Kadi) in the Slavic Hagiography of the 16th Century

Abstract

The paper deals with the image of a Muslim judge (kadi) in the Slavic vitae of the 16th century. Unlike most other Muslims, kadi is rarely portrayed in an unambiguously negative way. Following the law, he almost always protects the saint from enraged ordinary Muslims, instead he tries to convince the martyr to convert to Islam and promises him all sorts of riches and honors. In some cases, he even considers a Christian to be innocent and tries to save his life, although in the end, under pressure from other Muslims, he sends the saint to execution. The article suggests that these features in the image of a kadi can be explained by the purpose of the authors of the hagiographic texts to show the innocence and righteousness of the saint, even from the point of view of the «infidel» judge.