_Adet_ supplemented the Sacred Law and the _Kanuns_ in matters which they did not cover.[547] It differed from district to district, as it does in the West. _Urf_ was the sovereign will of the reigning sultan; it was the seat and organ of sovereignty, being absolute to the full extent in which, according to the Sacred Law, God has delegated the right of legislation and rule to human beings.[548] The will of a past sultan could prevail only if it had been expressed in a _Kanun_ and was enforced by the reigning sovereign. It was by the expression of _Urf_ that _Kanuns_ were issued or annulled and that _Adet_ was replaced by _Kanun_. So long as the Sacred Law was untouched, _Urf_ might be exercised oppressively, cruelly, or unworthily, without giving any one the right to resist.[549] Against the _Sheri_, however, it had no force; any attempt to exercise it thus was an invitation to disaster.[550] Suleiman was never in danger from transgression of the Sacred Law. A devout Moslem, whose piety increased in old age, he took seriously his duty of enforcing its provisions, not even hesitating at such as were unpopular, like the prohibition of wine-drinking,[551] or at such as demanded self-sacrifice on his part, like the disapproval of musical instruments and silver plate.[552] If he did not enact measures directly to increase the welfare of the common people, his attempts to regulate the tax and tenancy systems tended to lighten their condition. Moreover, he used severe measures to put down extortion; and he strove by his market and police regulations to maintain justice, fairness, and order.[553] THE VIZIERS Ottoman writers represented their government under the figure of a tent supported by four lofty pillars,[554]—the Viziers, the _Kaziaskers_, the _Defterdars_, and the _Nishanjis_. It is not safe to press comparisons too far, however; for, as a matter of fact, the pillars did not bear equal weight. All four groups of officials were necessary, but they were not of like importance: the _Nishanjis_ were far less esteemed than the others; the grand vizier, on the other hand, carried, from the time of Suleiman, so much greater a burden than any one else that he might be compared to a central pillar which supported the entire tent.