Sidelights on the Devshirme from Idrīs and Sa‘duddīn

In connexion with Professor Wittek's article ‘Devshirme and sharī'a’ in BSOAS, xyn, 2, pp. 271–8, a passage in Idrīs Bitlīsī's Hasht bihisht is of interest, for there the author, far from feeling any incompatibility between the devshirme and the sharī'a, even shows the former as justified by the latter.