Nizam al-Mulk: Book of Government; or, Rules for Kings

Impact

During his lifetime, Nizam al-Mulk achieved considerable success in guiding the Seljuk Empire. It is notable that after his assassination, the empire began to spiral into a series of civil wars. Nonetheless, many of the ideas and practices that he promoted in his tenure as wazir, and which can be found in the Book of Government, lasted long after his death and the end of the Seljuk Dynasty.

The Seljuks were not a native Middle Eastern dynasty but entered Iran bringing their own culture and traditions of kingship. Thus, they not only had to struggle to legitimize their rule according to Islamic tradition but also had to maintain their leadership over the Turkic tribes they ruled. Although the Seljuks had converted to Islam before becoming the preeminent power in the medieval Middle East, the traditions they inherited from the steppe still played a major role in the process of their empire building. Nizam al-Mulk attempted to fully inculcate Islamic views into the minds of the Seljuk sultans, but Turkic concepts of kingship and sovereignty never went away. Essentially, the view of kingship and legitimacy that the Seljuks brought from the steppe was that the ruler had divine origins. Sovereign power and the ability to govern were granted by heaven and carried in the ruler's blood. All descendants of the ruler had an innate right and ability to rule.

From the time of Nizam al-Mulk, however, whoever assumed control of the government did so by using the structures that he introduced to the Seljuks. How rigorously the sultans and their advisers applied his advice is open to question, but his ideas were widely known and had an impact on the way the public, from the commoners to the ulema, viewed the role of the ruler. These ideas spread to other parts of the Islamic world.

Nizam al-Mulk's promotion of the Shafii interpretation of Islamic law and his fight against the Ismailis bore additional fruit under the rule of Saladin in Egypt and Syria. Before Saladin died in 1193—just over one hundred years after Nizam al-Mulk's death—he built several Nizamiyyah madrassas in his realm. In addition, he attempted to stamp out the Ismailis' brand of Shia Islam, though he later tempered his actions after the Ismailis in Lebanon made it clear that they could harm Saladin no matter what precautions he took. It is clear that Saladin attempted to mold himself and his rule according to Nizam al-Mulk's advice. Other rulers also used it, perhaps unwittingly through the advice of their own advisers who had read and debated this great work. Indeed, not everyone agreed with his philosophy of statecraft and governance, but the resulting discourse of later scholars and thinkers on Nizam al-Mulk's ideals have made Islamic political thought much richer. One can find Nizam al-Mulk's influence in Iranian political thought even into the twenty-first century.