NM(ensiklopedia)

Abu Ali al-Hasan al-Tusi Nizam al-Mulk (خواجه نظام‌الملک طوسی in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...

; 1018 – 14 October 1092) was a celebrated Persian scholar and vizier
Vizier
A vizier is a high-ranking political advisor or minister, often to a Persian Empire's monarchs such as Shah and Shahenshah. It sometimes refers to ministers and advisors of the Muslim's caliph, or sultan...

of the Seljuq Empire. He was also for a short time the sole ruler of the Seljuk Empire.
His life

Born in Tus in Persia (Iran)
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...

, and initially serving the Ghaznavid
Ghaznavid Empire
The Ghaznavids were a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin which existed from 975 to 1187 and ruled much of Persia, Transoxania, and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The Ghaznavid state was centered in Ghazni, a city in present Afghanistan...

sultans, Nizam ul-Mulk became chief administrator of the entire Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan is a modern term for a historical geographic region spanning north-eastern and east of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, western and northern Afghanistan and the North Western Areas of Pakistan...

province by 1059 AD.

From 1063, he served the Seljuks as vizier and remained in that position throughout the reigns of Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan was the second sultan of the Seljuk dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponym of the dynasty...

(1063-1072) and Malik Shah I
Malik Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawlah Malik-shāh or simply Malik Shāh was the Seljuk sultan from 1072 to 1092....

(1072-1092). He left a great impact on organization of the Seljuk governmental bodies and hence the title Nizam al-Mulk which translates as "the order of state". He was pivotal figure who bridged the political gap between both the Abbasids and the Seljuks against their various rivals such as the Fatamids and the Buyids.

Aside from his extraordinary influence as vizier with full authority, he is also well-known for systematically founding a number of schools of higher education
Higher education
Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by universities, vocational universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, institutes of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic...

in several cities, the famous Nizamiyyah
Nizamiyyah
A nizamiyya , is one of the medieval institutions of higher education established by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century in present-day Iran. The name nizamiyyah derives from his name...

schools, which were named after him. In many aspects, these schools turned out to be the predecessors and models of universities that were established in Europe.

Nizam ul-Mulk is also widely known for his voluminous treatise on kingship titled Siyasatnama
Siyasatnama
Siyāsatnāma , also known as Siyar al-muluk, is the most famous work by Nizam al-Mulk, the founder of Nizamiyyah schools in medieval Persia and vizier to the Seljuq sultans Alp Arslan and Malik Shah...

(The Book of Government
Government
A government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....

). He also wrote a book titled Dastur al-Wuzarā, written for his son Abolfath Fakhr-ol-Malek, which is not dissimilar to the famous book of Qabus nama
Qabus nama
Qabus nama or Qabus nameh [variations: Qabusnamah, Qabousnameh, Ghabousnameh, or Ghaboosnameh, in Persian: قابوس‌نامه, book of Qabus] is a major work of Persian literature from the eleventh century ....

.

Nizam ul-Mulk was assassinated en route from Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan or Esfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan or Hispahan, is located about 340 km south of Tehran and is the capital of Isfahan Province and Iran's third largest city...

to Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....

on the 10th of Ramadhan of 1092 AD. The mainstream literature says he was stabbed by the dagger of a member of the Assassins (Hashshashin
Hashshashin
The Hashshashin from which the word assassin is thought to originate, was the Arabic designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages...

) sent by the notorious Hassan-i Sabah near Nahavand
Nahavand
Nahâvand, Nahaavand or Nahawand is a town in Hamadan Province in Iran. It is located south of Hamadan, east of Malayer and northwest of Borujerd...

, Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...

, as he was being carried on his litter
Litter (vehicle)
The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of persons. Examples of litter vehicles include jiao , sedan chairs , palanquin , gama and tahtırevan...

. The killer approached him disguised as a dervish
Dervish
A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus....

.

This account is particularly interesting in light of a possibly apocryphal story recounted by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , best known as Jorge Luis Borges, was an Argentine writer and poet born in Buenos Aires. In 1914, his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school and traveled to Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and...

. In this story a pact is formed between a young Nizam ul-Mulk (at that time known as Abdul Khassem) and his two friends, Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám , , was a Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, music and was a physicist....

and Hassan-i-Sabah
Hassan-i-Sabah
Hassan-i Sabbāh was a Persian Nizārī Ismā'īlī missionary who converted a community in the late 11th century in the heart of the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. The place was called Alamut and was attributed to an ancient king of Daylam...

. Their agreement stated that if one should rise to prominence, that they would help the other two to do likewise. Nizam ul-Mulk was the first to do this when he was appointed vizier to the sultan Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan was the second sultan of the Seljuk dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponym of the dynasty...

. To fulfil the pact he offered both friends positions of rank within the court. Omar refused the offer, asking instead to be given the means to continue his studies indefinitely. This Nizam did, as well as building him an observatory. Although Hassan, unlike Omar, decided to accept the appointment offered to him, he was forced to flee after plotting to dispose Nizam as vizier. Subsequently, Hassan came upon and conquered the fortress of Alamut
Alamut
Alamūt was once a mountain fortress located in the central Alborz Mountains south of the Caspian Sea close to Gazor Khan near Qazvin Province, about 100 km from present-day Tehran in Iran. Only ruins remain of this fortress today.-Origins:Alamut lies on the peak known as Alah Amut...

, from where he established the Assassins.

Another report says he was killed in secret by Malik Shah I
Malik Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawlah Malik-shāh or simply Malik Shāh was the Seljuk sultan from 1072 to 1092....

in an internal power struggle. Consequently, his murder was avenged by the vizier's loyal academics of the Nizamiyyah
Nizamiyyah
A nizamiyya , is one of the medieval institutions of higher education established by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century in present-day Iran. The name nizamiyyah derives from his name...

, by assassinating the Sultan
. The account is disputed and remains a controversy because of the long history of friendship between Malik Shah I
Malik Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawlah Malik-shāh or simply Malik Shāh was the Seljuk sultan from 1072 to 1092....

and Nizam.

Another report says that he was assassinated with Malik Shah I
Malik Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawlah Malik-shāh or simply Malik Shāh was the Seljuk sultan from 1072 to 1092....

in the same year, after a debate between Sunni and Shea scholars which was prepared by him by the orders of Malik Shah I
Malik Shah I
Jalāl al-Dawlah Malik-shāh or simply Malik Shāh was the Seljuk sultan from 1072 to 1092....

and which resulted in converting him and the king to the Shea ideology. The story is reported by the son-in-law of Nizam al-Mulk, Muqatil bin Atiyyah who attended the debate.

It is highly unlikely that 72-year-old Nizam al-Mulk a powerful Grand Vizier upholding orthodox Islam would adopt the Shea ideology.