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    Nizam Al-Mulk Book of Government

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    mgoodell02
    Nizam al-Mulk outlines the proper role of government according to Islamic tradition in his book "Book of Government". He asserts that God appoints rulers and entrusts them with governing the world and people. The king derives authority from God but does not have the same infallibility as the caliph. The king must closely monitor subordinates and resolve disputes among peasants to ensure justice. The king's legitimacy depends on divine approval, so he must rule according to the Quran and hadiths. If Islam is false, the king is just a man with no real authority over the people.

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    Nizam Al-Mulk Book of Government

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    mgoodell02
    2K views3 pages
    Nizam al-Mulk outlines the proper role of government according to Islamic tradition in his book "Book of Government". He asserts that God appoints rulers and entrusts them with governing the world and people. The king derives authority from God but does not have the same infallibility as the caliph. The king must closely monitor subordinates and resolve disputes among peasants to ensure justice. The king's legitimacy depends on divine approval, so he must rule according to the Quran and hadiths. If Islam is false, the king is just a man with no real authority over the people.

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    Nizam al-Mulk outlines the proper role of government according to Islamic tradition in his book "Book of Government". He asserts that God appoints rulers and entrusts them with governing the world and people. The king derives authority from God but does not have the same infallibility as the caliph. The king must closely monitor subordinates and resolve disputes among peasants to ensure justice. The king's legitimacy depends on divine approval, so he must rule according to the Quran and hadiths. If Islam is false, the king is just a man with no real authority over the people.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    2K views3 pages

    Nizam Al-Mulk Book of Government

    Uploaded by

    mgoodell02
    Nizam al-Mulk outlines the proper role of government according to Islamic tradition in his book "Book of Government". He asserts that God appoints rulers and entrusts them with governing the world and people. The king derives authority from God but does not have the same infallibility as the caliph. The king must closely monitor subordinates and resolve disputes among peasants to ensure justice. The king's legitimacy depends on divine approval, so he must rule according to the Quran and hadiths. If Islam is false, the king is just a man with no real authority over the people.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
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    Some of the key points are that God appoints rulers, kings have a responsibility to know their people, and rulers must use Islam and rule justly to maintain power.

    Nizam al-Mulk believes that God is ultimately the highest authority and appoints rulers. Rulers are entrusted with governing on God's behalf and must use Islam and rule justly.

    Nizam al-Mulk advises rulers to know their people through spies, messengers and addressing even small disputes. Rulers must also maintain absolute obedience from the peasantry.

    Matt Goodell

    Hist 115
    11-12-08

    Government, According to Nizam al-Mulk

    Four hundred years after the death of the prophet Muhammad, those in power are

    not descendants of Muhammad, or even any of the Rashidun caliphs. They are not even

    Arabs. They are Turks. To mention these details to a 7th century Muslim would probably

    result in a heart attack, but such is the scene in and around the Arabian Peninsula when

    Nizam al-Mulk is commissioned by the Seljukid Sultan, Malikshah to write Book of

    Government. I will outline a few of Nizam al-Mulk’s main points in his effort to portray

    proper government, kingship, and peasantry.

    God is Government. For all intents and purposes, in the Islamic world, in the 9th

    and 10th centuries, God is Government. Nizam al-Mulk wrote “In every age and time God

    (be He exalted) chooses one member of the human race and, having adorned and

    endowed him with kingly virtues, entrusts him with the interests of the world and the

    well-being of His servants…” This illustrates two things. One, that God is behind the

    appointment of the ruler. And two, that there is a supposed transfer of power as God

    “entrusts him with the interests of the world…” Despite this, the king is still in a vastly

    different seat than that of the caliph. The king does not have the same overarching claim

    of infallibility that the caliph does. The king is more of a hands on ruler and must “ever

    acquaint himself, secretly and openly, with their (his subordinates) conditions;” so that

    “blessings from those actions may come about in the time of his rule…” A wise and just

    ruler will be like a light in the darkness that the peasantry can use to light his or her own
    path to The Truth. Of course, the king must use the Qur’an and the hadiths as tools to

    make righteous decisions as he rules for God.

    In order for the king to be informed of the goings on of his people Nizam al-Mulk

    advises a wide range of tactics. The king should use informants, spies, and messengers to

    relay valuable details regarding the kingdom. According to Nizam al-Mulk, quarrels

    between peasantry even as insignificant as “if anybody wrongly took so much as a

    chicken or a bag of straw from another” are worthy of the king’s attention. Although it

    might be said that the king has a “responsibility” to the peasantry, the absolute nature of

    their obedience to the king is demanded as much as ever.

    At this time, as long as the king is in power it is safe to assume that he is in God’s

    favor. Once his rein is questioned, he looses on the battlefield, or is assassinated; the new

    ruler stakes claim on divine leadership based on the grounds that he was able to

    overthrow the previous king.

    Because these rulers are not claiming authority based on their genealogy, in the

    eyes of the Islamic community they are only as powerful as God decides them to be. If a

    king has his throne secure then it must be because God wills it to be so. This dependency

    on God for legitimacy leaves the ruler on completely un-solid ground if Islam is not true.

    If the king is said to be appointed by a god that does not exist, or does not back him, then

    he is just a man. If he uses a counterfeit book of scripture and the words of a false

    prophet to make his decisions then everything he commands the peasantry to do is

    unfounded. If he believes the Islamic God has put him there, he better be right, or he is no

    better than the lowest of the peasants he rules. He has not been entrusted with the

    interests of the world.


    These are just some of the conditions the Islamic community finds themselves in

    the 9th and 10th centuries. The rulers have many of the same characteristics of the

    caliphs they have taken the power from, but also because of the nature of their rule, have

    in some ways a greater responsibility to the people they command… Absolutely.

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