YN(CU)

This is the story of the life of Nizam al-Mulk Abu al-Hasan b. 'Ali b. Ishaq al-Tusi (1018-92), vizier of two Saljuq Sultans, Alp Arslan (r. 1063-72), and Malikshah (r. 1072-85), as it was recorded by a selection of Muslim historians of the medieval period. More than a simple biography, this dissertation aims at reconstructing the "historical" person of Nizam al-Mulk, dealing with how he was remembered and why. In so doing, it is as much a study in historiography as it is in history. Part of the contention, in fact, is that history cannot be divorced, conceptually, from historiography, in that every reality is narrated, and in its narration, the telling of the story is as much a part of the historical process as the story itself.

The study analyzes the various historical accounts of the life of Nizam al-Mulk, and attempts an explanation of their myriad points of divergence. To that end, a brief history of the historiographical watersheds of the first five centuries of Islamic history is supplied, so that a model for distinction, signified by the historians themselves, becomes discernible. It is maintained that a certain Islamic "type" is sought for every epoch of Islamic history, and that Nizam al-Mulk epitomized that "type" for the fifth/eleventh century. Moreover, the dissertation argues that the frequent falsifications by the sources are not indicative of ahistoricality, but that the historical events are equal partners to the ahistorical ones in the historical process itself. The forgeries, in other words, are not arbitrary. This is attested to by the recurring patterns of the great Islamic "type", manifested as much in the imagined events as in the real ones.

Finally, the study takes issue with prevalent scholarship on the policies of Nizam al-Mulk with religious currents outside mainstream Islam, namely Shi'ism and Sufism, showing them to be marked with expediency and compromise rather than establishmentarian zealotry.