Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi

Introduction:
Khawaja Abu Ali Hasan bin Ali bin Ishaq widely known in history of Islamic political thought as Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi. He was born in 1017 AD. Nizam-ul-Mulk was not his real name. it was a title of honor conferred upon him by his Saljuqi ruler, Alp Arslan, after his appointment as minister. His father, Abu al-Hasan Ali belonged to a family of landowners of Radhkan, a small town in the suburn of Tus, where Nizam-ul-Mulk was born.

His elementary education started with the study of Traditions and Jurisprudence and his father wanted him to take up the legal profession, so consequently he was put under the scholarly guidance of Al-Samad Funduraji, who was a profound scholar of Law of his age. Tusi traveled to Bukhara and Merv, and also to a number of towns in Transoxiana in search and employment. After 1049 he went to Ghaznah, where he sought service with Ghaznawids, thus having an opportunity to acquaint himself with their state administration. When Sultan Abdul Rashid was killed in 1052 and with his demise, the political situation ion the country became aggravated and in the hours of turmoil and confusion, he fled to Balkh and entered the service of Ali bin Shadhan who was the governor of that province. Then he went to Merv and there Chaghari Beg appointed him the mushir (counselor) of the katib (secretary) of his son, Alp Arslan. It was Alp Arslan who conquered all the territories of Western Asia till then ruled by the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine, imprisoning Emperor Diogenes himself and forcing him to pay tribute to the Islamic state.

Later on the advice of Ali bin Shadhan that Alp Arslan after his accession to the throne in 1062, Nizam-ul-Mulk was appointed as a joint Minister with Amin-ul-Mulk Kunduri. But Kunduri was soon put to death. Then Tusi became the full-fledged Prime Minister of the whole empire with the succession of Malik Shah to his father’s throne in 1072, which he owed entirely to Nizam-ul-Mulk’s efforts. From the capital of Saljuqs, his influence spread to the capital of the Abbasid Caliph, who is said to have honored him with the titles of Radi-ulAmir al Muminin. Sherwani was of the view that during his term of offices he was showered with all kinds of honorific titles and dignities both by his master, Alp Arslan and Malik Shah, and by the titular Caliph of Baghdad, Al-Qaim, and as if these titles would not suffice to connote the qualities of the man, the great divine of the period, Imam-ul- Haramain Sheikh Abdul Malik-I Jawaini added a number of other distinctions to his honorific titles.

In his last days he came into collision with the Ismailyah movement of Hasan bin Sabah, in whose activities he saw danger to the Saljuq Empire. Nizam-ul-Mulk was cruelly assassinated by one of Fidais (the Assassins) in 1091 AD.

Nizam-ul-Mulk’s Persian works are the chief inspiring sources for the study of his political ideas:

1. Siyasat Namah or Siyar-ul-Mulk (The book on State polity and administration)

2. Dastur-al-Wuzara (The conduct of Ministers). It is more generally known as the Wasaya-i-Khawaja Nizam-ul-Mulk (The precepts of Khawaja Nizam-ul-Mulk)

3. Nizam-ul-Mulk is said to have written a book entitled as Safar Namah (The book of Travels) which is now extinct.

Contribution of Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi
to Islamic Political Thought

An age of Political Turmoil:
Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi lived in a dark age of political warfare and constant conflict among the political demagogues to grab power which has witnessed the lower degradation of the Caliphate, following its transformation during a period of three centuries from a democracy into autocracy and then from autocracy into a mere puppetry in the hands of powerful aristocrats and wazirs. This also saw the decline of the Ghaznawids Empire and the Bhwaihid kingdom and the emergence of the Suljuqs after their victory over the Ghaznawids in 1040 when their nomadic and wandering life changed into the cultured race who ruled over vast gigantic empire. It was an age of radical change and fusion of social and political ideas and institutions, specifically in the Muslim world in which Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi lived and worked relentlessly.


Contribution of Nizam-ul-Mulk:
This is an admitted fact that Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi wielded a profound influence on the succeeding generations by making valuable contributions to the history of political thought. He was an irrepressible advocate of natural rights of individuals and he ardently championed their cause to give liberty and freedom but with restrictions to show respect and regard to the rulers. He did away with the stagnant politics and despotic conspiracies of palaces and became responsible for heralding a new era of political consciousness.

It is sufficient to know the ideas contained in the Siyasat Namah came from the prominent Prime Minister of the Saljuqis and are the ones accepted by his master Jalal-ud-Din Malik Shah as the constitutional code of his extensive empire. In his immortal political works, Siyasat Namah, he discussed at length all evils and ills of politics of his age and he aptly suggested remedies in order to avoid all kinds of destructive tendencies among the states. His foreign policy was a great success, and he maintained cordial relations among his neighboring states.

His work was a valuable constitution of his country, and his contributions not only became advantageous in his era but also greatly influenced the later period. the book was compiled nearly a thousand years ago, when the House of Abbasids was tottering, the power was declining, and the days of the Eastern Empire of Constantinople were nearing their end, and India got a miserable shock and set-back due to perennial internal dissentions and conflicts, the ailment of the caste system and the threats of a permanent conquests by outsiders. Sherwani pays tribute to Tusi in these words, “It is to the great credit of Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi that in the dark and uncertain epoch, he sat down to write a book which was as useful to a seeker of political truth in our own times as it was to his contemporaries. He freely takes his cue from the non-Arabic and non-Muslim sources. In fact he amrks an epoch in the history of Eastern learning and arts, for he was an expert in the arts and sciences of his day, a faithfully counselor of his patron and his eminent son, a friend of the great Persian astronomer-poet, Umar Khayyam, founder of the Nizamiyah University and its branches, and a martyr at the hands of a murderer, in a word he rose to such eminence that the whole continent of Asia may well take a prides in his personality and his work.”

Theory of Kingship

Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi served many kings and he profoundly studied the monarchical system of government developing under the aristocratic rule of prince, as against the constitutional structure of the Caliphate which was delicately interwoven since the ascendancy of Islam. His political theory represents a phase of the development of the Muslim polity which was characterized by kingship. The first thing distinguishable about his exposition of the institution of kingship is that he is careful to make no reference to the Caliph as the head of the Muslim political community, and to remark nothing about the constitutional relations of the Saljuq enter with the Abbasid Caliphs. He very often uses the title of Sultan for the Saljuq king. And as for the term Amir Mustauli (Governor by usurpation) it does not occur at all throughout his writings, both being the terms of the constitutional law employed by the jurists to denote the legal superiority of the Caliph over the prince. He generally calls his ruler as Padshah, a Persian term used for the king.

Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi had to surmount all difficulties in regard to the coordination of Islamic principles in which he had an implicit belief with the Perso-Turkish thought and practice in politics in rogue, and it is unnecessary to indulge in controversy about the powers of the two offices. It is curious that the reason for the establishment of the kingly office as remarked by him should be identical with the set-up of the Imamat as given by Mawardi, and it seems contradiction in terms that while trying to justify the hereditary king he should be using arguments already advanced in favor of an elected President. His theory is that the king enjoys the right to rule over his subjects by virtue of divine appointment.

“In every age God the Almighty selects some one from among men and gives over to him the charge of the well-being of the world and the comfort and tranquility of the human race after duly furnishing him with the art of government. He also makes him responsible for the peace and security of the land and endows him with all the necessary prestige in order that God’s creatures may live in peace and plenty and that justice and security may be the order of the day.” (Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi)

Functions of the King:

According to Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi the essential functions which the king has to fulfill in human society are the following:

1. It is the duty of a king to remain in constant consultation with the wisest, the most experienced and the most competent of his people and to repose confidence in such of his subjects as deserve it and delegate to them a part of his duties according to their merit and worth.


2. Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi was of the view that the ultimate object to which the king must canalize his energy and initiative for maintaining peace and order in the state, so that the people may live with comfort under the shadow of his justice.


3. According to Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi, a king must issue an instrument of instructions to all his subordinate officers and governors of the states enjoining them to treat the people well and extract only the dues allowed by the law of the land.


4. Nizam-ul-Mulk’s prince must work for the collective good of his people, so that an era of prosperity and progress may usher. The sovereign must remember that God the Almighty is pleased with a king only when he treats his people with kindness and justice.


5. Tusi lays great emphasis on obedience as the most essential duty of the people towards the ruler, since he brings to them peace and prosperity after they have been deprived of it as a punishment for their obedience to God.


6. Tusi said that the people must blindly obey every order and instruction of the prince without questioning the validity of his authority. It is valid because it is de facto.


7. Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi believed that “the king is endowed by God with wisdom and knowledge so that he can treat each of his subjects according to his worth and can give each a position according to his value. His wisdom is just like a lamp that gives off abundant light. People can find their way in its light and can come out of darkness.”


Tusi treats Prince as divinely appointed ruler, vested with unlimited powers; he does not regard him by any means as a law-giver. A human authority with absolute legislative powers has never existed in a true Muslim polity, because legislation in the proper sense of the term has never been recognized as a human function in the Muslim legal theory. According to this theory there already exists a divine law (Shariat) which is theoretically as binding on the ruler himself, however autocratic he may be in practice, as on his subjects. Tusi was of the view, “It is obligatory for the king to seek knowledge of religious matters and to comply with and make arrangements to carry out the commands of God and the traditions of the Prophet (P.B.U.H) and to pay due respect to religious scholars.”

Religion and politics are inseparably joined together, and are complementary to each other. Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi said, “The state and religion are like two brothers.” The principles of conduct which he lays down for the king under the influence of this religious trend are in striking contrast with those prescribed by Machiavelli for his “Prince”. Unlike the Machiavellian Prince who is advised to handle religion merely as a useful instrument for achieving political ends, and who is taught to appear rather than become religious. But Nizam-ul-Mulk’ Prince is taught to believe sincerely in religious truths, and to exercise political power as an essential means of attaining them. He emphasizes the importance of religious character of the king’s authority and it tones down the autocratic attitude of his monarch. The moral obligations he sets on the absolute authority of the king prevent it from growing into an oppressive despotism. The first and foremost obligation of the king towards his subjects is to do justice. He firmly believes it to be a religious duty, for it has been ordained by Almighty God. Justice, as a principle of good government, occupies a predominant place in his concept of kingship, and time and again, he lays emphasis on its importance for state and society. “A state can continue to exist notwithstanding impiety, but it cannot exist with tyranny.” (Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi)

Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi is greatly impressed by the Persian standards of justice that he believes that “Sassanian kings, especially Nushirwan the Just, have surpassed all other monarchs in justice, generosity and courage.” He was of the view that “The king should strive to seek the favor of God, which can be attained through the kindness with which they treat the people and through justice which they administer to them. When the people pray for the welfare of the king, his state grows stable and prospers everyday.”

__________________
Kon Kehta hy k Main Gum-naam ho jaon ga
Main tu aik Baab hn Tareekh mein Likha jaon ga