The Exemplary Status of the Military from the Viewpoint of Khwājih Niẓām-ul-Mulk

تاریخ و فرهنگ

Article 3, Volume 53, Issue 2 - Serial Number 107, December 2021, Pages 57-74   

Document Type: Promotional article

DOI: 10.22067/jhistory.2022.75936.1117

Author

Yaʿqub Tabesh^*

Assistant Professor, Department of History, Hakim Sabzevari University

Abstract

Khwājih Niẓām-ul-Mulk did most of his country and military service during the time of Alp-Arsalān and Malikshāh, and as a minister under their rule. In Sayr-ul-mulūk he expresses his ideas regarding bureaucracy and different levels of governance, including the military structure of the state, which is one of the main pillars of power. The present study collects data using written sources, and examines the data using content analysis. We attempt to answer the following questions: “As a bureaucrat, what views did Niẓām-ul-Mulk hold towards the military?” and “Which merits does he mention when it comes to the professional status of military?” In other words, the purpose of the present study is to define the status of the military, and to extract a model of military merits based on Khwājih Niẓām-ul-Mulk’s viewpoints.
It is suggested that the military are given major focus in Sayr-ul-mulūk. Although Niẓām-ul-Mulk criticizes the military’s activities during his own time, he enumerates several merits in Sayr-ul-mulūk as important factors in forming the military’s status. These include military experience and strength, respecting the superiors, not intruding on people’s property (professional aspect), the multi-ethnic nature of the military, and the neatness of military men’s looks and tools (personal aspect).

Keywords

The Military’s Mertis; Sayr-ul-mulūk; Khwājih Niẓām-ul-Mulk; Seljuks

References

ʿAbd al-Fatāḥ al-Jālūdī, ʿAlīyān. “Iqṭāʿ-i Niẓāmī dar ʿAṣr-i Pādishāhān-i Buzurg-i Saljūqī va Naqsh-i Vazīr Niẓām al-Mulk dar Pidāysh va Taḥavūl-i ān (A.H. 429-486/A.D. 1037-1092)”. Translated by Sajād Jamshīdīyān va Ḥusayn Qāʾimī Aṣl. Pazhūhsh dar Tārīkh, no.6 (Spring 2012/1391): 63-127.

Akhyānī, Jamīla va Nargis Aḥmadī. “Bāzshināsī-i Naqsh va Jāygāh-i Ghulāmān-i Sarāyī dar Sākhtār-i Qudrat-i Ghaznavīyān bar Asās-i Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī”. Tārīkh-i Adabīyāt 7, no. 75(2014/1393): 5-18.

Āqsarāyī, Maḥmud ibn Muḥammad. Musāmara al-Akhbār wa Musāyara al-Akhyār. Tehran: Asāṭīr, 1983/1362.

Bayhaqī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn. Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī (bā Mʿanī-i vāzhihhā va Sharḥ-i Jumlihhāy Dushvār va Barkhī Nuktihhāy Dastūrī va Adabī. Edited by Khalīl Khaṭīb Rahbar. Tehran: Mahtāb, Saʿadī, 1995/1374.

Bazrmanish, Sayyida Ḥalīmih va ʿAlī Baḥrānīpūr. “Jāygāh va Naqsh-i Ghulāmān va Bardigān-i Turk dar Ḥukūmat-i Sāmānīyān”. Jundīshāpūr, no. 3(2015/1394): 1-22.

Dihqān, Maʿṣūmih. “Barrisī-i Tashkīlāt-i Niẓāmī va Jāygāh-i Artish dar Khilāfat-i Fāṭimī-i Miṣr”. Muṭāliʿāt-i  Tārīkhī-i  Jang 6, no. 2 (2018/1397): 77-94.

Dīnawarī, Abū Ḥanīfa. Akhbār al-Ṭiwāl. Translated by Maḥmud Mahdavī Dāmqhānī, Tehran: Niy, 1989/1368.

Gardīzī, ʿAbd al-Ḥayy. Zayn al-Akhbār. Tehran: Dunyā-yi Kitāb, 1984/ 1363.

Ḥasanzādih, Ismāʿil. “Sākhtār va ʿAmalkard Sipāh Qaznavīyān”. Shinākht 16, no. 52 (2006/1385): 52-115.

Ibn Athīr, ʿIzzu al-Dīn ʿAlī. Tārīkh-i Kāmil-i Buzurg-i Islām va Irān. Tehran: Mūʾasisa Maṭbūʻāt-i ʻIlmī, 1992/1371.

Isfahānīyān, Dāvūd. “Tashkīlāt-i Niẓāmī Saljūqīyān”. Barrisīhāy Tārīkhī 8, no. 5(1973/1352): 57-72.

Khalʿatbarī, Allāhyār va Bushrā Dilrīsh. “ʿIlal-i bi Kārgīrī va Ḥużūr-i Gustardih-yi Ghulāmān dar Niẓām-i Sīyāsī-i Sāmānīyān”.ʿUlūm-i Insānī Al-Zahra University, no. 59 (2006/1385): 57-78.

Klausner, Carla L., Dīvānsālārī dar ʿAhd-i Saljūqī (Vizārat darʿAhd-i Saljūqī). Translated by Yaʿqūb Āzhand. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1984/1363.

Muḥammadī, ZikrAllāh. “Naqsh-i Muʾallafahā va Bāvarhā-yi Dīnī dar Pīrūzī-yi Sipāh-i Saljūqī dar Nabard-i Malāzgird”. Pazhūhshhā-yi ʻIilm va Dīn 5, no. 9(Spring and Summer 2014/1393): 43-66.

Niẓām al-Mulk, Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī. Sīyar al-Mulūk(Sīyāsatnāmah). Tehran: ʻIilmī va Farhangī, 1999/1378.

Rāwandī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. Rāḥa al-Ṣudūr wa Āya al-Surūr dar Tārīkh-i Āl-i Saljūq. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1985/1364.

Sārīkhānī, Majīd. “Razm Afzārhāy Irān dar Daūrān-i Isāmī bā Istinād bi Āsār-i Hunarī-i Ganjīnih-yi Isāmī”. Tārīkh Farhang va Tamadun-i Isāmī 4, no. 11 (2013/1392): 21-44.

Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Javād. Darāmadī  Falsafī bar Tārīkh-i Andīshih-yi Sīyāsī dar Irān. Tehran: Kavīr, 2006/1385.

Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Javād. Khvājah Niẓām al-Mulk. Tehran: Ṭarḥ-i Nau, 1996/1375.

Tābish, Yaʿqūb va Muḥsin Parvīsh. “Mudil-i Shāyistigī Kārkunān dar Sīyar al-Mulūk”. Justārhāy Tārīkhī 10. no. 2 (2019/1398): 59-82.

Ṭahmāsbī, Sāsān. “Ravābiṭ-i Banī Mazyad bā Saljūqīyān va Khilāfat-i ʿAbāsī”. Tārīkh Isām dar Āynih Pazhūhish 2, no. 4 (2003/1382): 79-98.

Tārīkh-i Āl-i Saljūq dar Ānātūlī. Tehran: Mīrās-i Maktūb, 1398/1377.

Tārīkh-i Irān-i Kambrīj, Az Āmadan-i Saljūqīyān tā Furūpāshī-i Daūlat Iīlkhānān. Edited by J. A. Boyle. Translated by Ḥasan Anūshih. vol.5. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1987/1366.

ʿUnṣur al-Maʿālī, Kaykāvūs ibn Iskandar. Qābūs Nāmah. Tehran: ʻIilmī va Farhangī, 2004/1383.

Uzunçarşılı, İsmail Hakkı. “Tashkīlāt-i Impirāturī Saljūqīyān(3)”. Translated by Muḥammad Riżā Naṣīrī. Nāmah-yi Anjuman 8, no. 2 (winter 2002/1381): 52-63.