Having been one of the most successful statesmen of the Medieval Muslim world, Niẓām al-Mulk, Grand Vizier of the Great Seljuk Empire, served Sultan Alp Arslan and then Sultan Malikshāh, and thus the Great Seljuk Empire, with loyalty for about 30 years without interruption. His services can be broadly grouped under the following titles:
Services in the Conquests, Fights for the Throne, and Wars
Niẓām al-Mulk was a brave soldier and commander who knew the war feints and tactics of his time quite well. With the splendid military glories he won during the rules of Sultans Alp Arslan and Malikshāh, he gained the favors of both of the sultans. He also saved both of the sultans from grave dangers with his skilled and wise tactics and instructions during the fights for the throne.
Services in the Seljukid-Abbasid Relations
The renowned vizier did his best to help maintain the friendly relationships between the Abbasid Caliphates, who were considered to be the spiritual leaders of the Muslim world, and the Seljukid Sultans, from time to time enabled affinities to be created through marriages between two dynasties, and sometimes got personally involved in order to settle the disputes between the sultans and the caliphs.
Services in the Fights against al-Ḫasan b. al-Ṣabbāh and Bāṭinīds
Having founded the NizārīIsmāʻīlī State in 483 (1090) in Alamūt, al-Ḫasan b. al-Ṣabbāh and Bāṭinīds had been one of the biggest and most lasting problems of the Great Seljukid Empire. Niẓām al-Mulk fought vigorously, both in military and scholarly fields, against al-Ḫasan b. al-Ṣabbāh and Bāṭinīds who aimed to destroy the Great Seljukid Empire and eliminate, with daggers, those who refused their ideology. Niẓām al-Mulk served for this purpose to the state and the Sunnī-Muslim world greatly.
Fights to End Sectarian Conflicts
Medieval Muslim world was always filled with the sectarian conflicts caused by fanaticism. These conflicts did not occur only between Sunnī and Shīʻa Muslims but also between Sunnī-Muslims themselves resulting in loss of many lives. Niẓām al-Mulk fought with the ShīʻaBāṭinīds in the scholarly area with the Niẓāmiyya Madrasas he established, and he succeeded overwhelmingly in this field. In order to end the conflicts among the Sunnī-Muslims, he asked everyone to respect different sects and opinions, and he did not intervene with their intellectual discussions unless they caused conflicts to the extent that they challenged the state’s authority.
Services in Extensification of the Eqtāʻ System
Niẓām al-Mulk rendered the eqtāʻ system, which had already been present in the Muslim world, more proper and orderly and also more popular, so he saved the state from a great deal of financial burden and enabled the lands to be cultivated and more prosper.
Services for the Science and Ulema
In the period during which Shīʻa Fāṭimids and Bāṭinīds carried out intensive propagandas to undermine the state’s authority in the Sunnī-Muslim world, the renowned statesman Niẓām al-Mulk founded Niẓāmiyya Madrasas to strengthen and spread the orthodoxy and eliminated the Shīʻa threat and danger both in bureaucracy and religious affairs with the scholars graduating from these madrasas.
Services for the Seljuk State Organization
Besides being the grand vizier, Niẓām al-Mulk was also the author of “Siyāsat-nāma” in which he gave information about the state organization of the Great Seljukid Empire. After giving information about state organizations of polities beginning from the pre-Islamic period, in Siyāsatnāma Niẓām al-Mulk presented, with an idealistic approach, detailed information to Sultan Malikshāh and his successors about the state organization and the qualities, qualifications and responsibilities of the persons to be recruited to this organization.
Contribution to the Public Works
Besides his political, military, scholarly and administrative services, Niẓām al-Mulk was closely interested in public works as well, and he erected mosques, madrasas, masdjids, khanqahs, zāwiyas, bīmāristāns, walls, and gates in various cities.
Nizam al-Mulk the Great Seljuk Eqtāʻ Siyāsatnāmeh Batiniyyah Alp Arslan Malikshāh Nizamiyya Madrasas
Nizâmülmülk Büyük Selçuklu İktâ Siyâsetnâme Bâtınîlik Alp Arslan Melikşah Nizamiye
Birincil Dil | Türkçe |
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Bölüm | Makaleler |
Yazarlar | |
Yayımlanma Tarihi | 9 Ekim 2018 |
Yayımlandığı Sayı | Yıl 2018 Sayı: 8 |
Selçuk Üniversitesi Selçuklu Araştırmaları Dergisi Creative Commons Atıf-GayriTicari 4.0 Uluslararası Lisansı (CC BY NC) ile lisanslanmıştır.