Thinker,
statesman, grand vizier (B. April 10th, 1018, Tus/ Khorasan– D. October
14th, 1092,Nihavend). His full name was Ebu Ali el-Hasan et-Tusi Nizamülmülk (T.N. Abu Ali al-Hasan
al-Tusi Nizam al-Mulk). He was one of the most significant statesmen whom
Eastern historians particularly emphasize on. Nizam al-Mulk means the
regulation of the state. He grew up taking lessons from the famous instructors
of the time. He was a righteous grand vizier. He also established universities
and strove to spread science in his country. He protected the great artists and
scholars, created precious works, and showed the rulers the best way. Thanks to
these qualities of him, he was given the name Nizam al-Mulk, meaning “the one
who maintains the order of the state”. He started to serve for the government
when he and his father were at the service of Ebü’l-Fazıl Es-Suri, the governor
of Khorasan of Ghaznavid State. Later, he entered the service of the Seljuk
Empire which was being established at that time, and worked as a grand vizier
and counselor for Davut Bin Mikâil, Alp Arslan, Malik-Shah . Because he had
superior abilities, every ruler recommended him to the next ruler.
After The Battle of Dandanaqan
(1040), he became a part of the retinue of Ali bin Şadan, the governor of Balkh
at the time of Sultan Alp Arslan. He was charged with managing the provincial
affairs. During the fight for the throne between Alp Arslan and Süleyman Bey,
after the death of Seljuk Sultan Tuğrul, Nizam al-Mulk attracted attention with
his appropriate views and suggestions. In 1063, he entered the service of Alp
Arslan. When Alp Arslan became the sultan, he was appointed to the Seljuk
Empire as the vizier. After he was honored
with the title Nizam al-Mulk by the caliph of the time, Kâim bin Emrillah, he
was noted for this name.
From the year 1064 when he became
the vizier, till the year 1092 when he was martyred, he served the Seljuk
Empire with a complete justice and sagacity for twenty eight years. Apart from
The Battle of Manzikert, which he could not join due to his being on duty, he
participated in all the Seljuk conquests. Upon the death of Sultan Alp Arslan,
helping the crown prince Malik-Shah I to come to the throne, he succeeded in
maintaining order and keeping the peace. He made a great contribution to the
discipline of the Seljuk princes who opposed or rose against the Seljuk Sultan
Malik-Shah. Sultan Malik-Shah gave him broad authority in the state government.
The reign of Malik-Shah was the brightest and greatest period of the Seljuk
Empire, thanks to wise and judicious ruling of him.
Because Nizam al-Mulk was an
intellectual, sophisticated, and appreciative person, his gatherings became the
places where the scientists and artists met. The Abbasid caliph also respected
him and became a part of his gatherings. He always did scholars, poets, artists
favor, and paid them with compliments. He built many mosques, prayer rooms, and
foundations.
He brought many innovations to the
Seljuk Empire in the governmental, judicial, military, economic, social, and
cultural fields. He reorganized the palace, central government, courts based on
the Islamic rules, and ground system placing them on robust rules. His new
systems and the changes he made were practiced in his period and the following
Turkish-Islamic states. Against the opponents who were trying to spread and get
strong at that time, teaching the doctrine of Ehl-i sünnet (T.N. Sunni Islam, acting
according to the practices of Muhammad) was made possible. For this reason, he
established the Nizamiye Madrasahs, which were referred with his name, in
different places such as Baghdad, Balkh, Nishapur, Herat, Isfahan, Basra, and
Mosul. These madrasahs were very helpful for getting rid of the disorder
resulted from the opponents’ movements against the doctrine of Sunni Islam in
the tenth century.
Nizam al-Mulk had a great part in the
establishment, development, and regulation of the Seljuk Empire. He wrote a
book titled “Siyeru’l-mülk”
(Siyasatname or Book of Government, 1087-92), written in Persian, examining all
regulations and changes in order to transfer his views, works and reasons on
the state government to the next generations. In “Siyasetname”, administrative, financial, political, military,
social, and cultural aspects of the Turkish Islamic states are observed. In
this precious book, which has been published in our country, he guided the
rulers and statesmen giving many examples, and examines the different aspects
of the state government. According to him, no ruler or statesman could avoid
reading this book. The biggest gift a ruler could give to his people would be justice.
If the people were satisfied with the just state government, that state would
continue living and gain power and strength every day. A state could not survive
with oppression. The ruler should personally listen to the complaints of the
ones who were oppressed, and take the right from the oppressor and give it to
the oppressed one. A complete and rough copy of this work is in the Molla
Çelebi part of the Süleymaniye Library, in Istanbul. Also, this work has been
translated into several languages and published.
According to Nizam Al-Mulk,
religion and sultanate were like brothers. Whenever there was a disorder in a
country, there was also a corruption in the religion; religious people, who were
bad, would appear. Whenever the religion was corrupted, the peace in the
country would be disturbed; the troublemakers would become strong, and weaken
the ruler. To know the goings-on in a country was the duty of the ruler.
Otherwise, the troublemakers would dare to be unwary and tyrannize. If the
ruler knew and did not care about it, then he was as cruel as them, and if he
did not know about it, then he was careless, lazy, and ignorant. As being a
poet himself, he protected the poets and scholars such as Omar Khayyám.
Nizam Al-Mulk was the
founder of the “ikta” (T.N. fief) system (giving the lands, taxes, or incomes
belonging to the state to the government officers in return of their services).
He also founded the system of providing scholarship and hostel for the
students. He was the first ruler to prepare income and expense reports in the
Turkish states. He was the founder of the first intelligence service in the
world. With the innovations he brought to the Turkish state structure, he was
one of the people who made way for the founding of the Ottoman Empire, which
became a world empire later. He is accepted as one of the greatest statesmen of
all time, in the world history.
According to the novel “Fedailerin Kalesi Alamut” by Vladimir
Bartol, he was killed being stabbed by an Assassin, a bodyguard of Alamut, who
came to him under the mask of submitting a petition and introduced himself as a
pupil of Al-Ghazali, in 1096. He was buried in his mausoleum in Isfahan. A work
titled “Vasiyetnâme”
(testament), which includes his suggestions for the state government after his
death, is said to have been written by him.
REFERENCE:
Osman Turan / Selçuklular Zamanında
Türkiye (1971), Mehmet
Altay Köymen / Nizâmül-Mülk-Siyasetnâme
(haz., 1982), Ali Sevim / Biyografilerle Selçuklular Tarihi (1982), Büyük Larousse
Ansiklopedisi (s. 8689, 1986), Erdoğan Merçil / Selçuklu Devletleri Tarihi: Siyaset -
Teşkilât ve Kültür (1995), Wladimir
Bartol / Fedailerin Kalesi Alamut (1998), Fazlı Konuş / Selçuklular
Bibliyografyası (2006), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye
Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, c. 3, 2013) - Resimli ve Metin
Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (C. 12, 2017).