Khaja Nizam al-Molk and the Iranshahi Concept

Subject Areas : Political Developments in Iran

Shoja Ahmadvand ¹ , Ali Saediannejad ²

1 - Associate Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabataba'i University.
2 - Master of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabataba'i University. Tehran, Iran

Received: 2022-08-21 Accepted : 2022-09-07 Published : 2022-06-22

Keywords: Iranshahi, statecraft, Khaja Nizam al-Molk, realism,

Abstract :

The Idea of Iranshahi was a collection of ideas about politics, in Anceint Iran, and was reproduced in the thought of the Islamic thinkers such as Khaja Nizam al-Molk. Due to its relationship with religion, politics acquired a sacred nature and the king, as the representative of God, was distinguished from other members of the society. The Shah had the special task of establishing order and justice. Historically, the first of this royal system was created by the Medes, and the Achaemenids presented it as a complete universal system. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to know how this type of politics is reproduced in the thought of Khaja Nizam al-Mulk Tusi, who was the prime inister of the Seljuk government for thirty years. The data of the article, has been analyzed with the Quentin Skinner hermenutics. In this method, we concentrate on both the text and the context. The finding of the research is that by policy of Iranshahi, Khaja was to establish a balanced government, in which ruler had to expand order and justice in the society in order to maintain and extend his power. The result of the article is that the Shah of Iran should be thinking of maintaining power through order, justice, and religion expansion, and it is only in this way that he can overcome various crises.