Part 7

Since Nizām al-Mulk and Nasir al-Din Tusi were both viziers in very different Iranian Empires, it is interesting to compare their decisive roles in different aspects. In addition to their political role, they both played a constructive role in reviving the intellectual atmosphere by re-establishing madrasas.

They both used waqf as the main source to sponsor these madrasas. However, they were also dissimilar. For example, Tusi wrote more than 56 different books and treatises.[60] Nizām al-Mulk, however, published few writings. Tusi’s political attitude derived from his Shiʻi ideas while that of Nizām al-Mulk was rooted in Sunni Islam.

The difference appeared in supporting or abolishing the idea of the caliphate in both theory and practice. While Nizām al-Mulk believed in the legitimacy of the Abbasid’s authority and motivated the Saljuks to support the Abbasid caliphs, Tusi accompanied Hulāku to invade Baghdād and destroy the caliphate.[61]

In spite of their emphasis on reviving intellectual and religious thought, the Nizāmiyya of Baghdād was explicitly a center of Shāfiʻi fiqh and Ashʻrite theology whereas the Nasiriyya of Marāgha incorporated a wider field of Islamic sciences. Moreover, Tusi did not announce that the orthodox fiqh and theology must be Imāmi.

The library of Marāgha was more important than that of the Nizāmiya; it contained a considerable number of books since it was a collection of the writings from Baghdād, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, those books which were gathered from the eastern parts of the Mongol Empire were added to the collection.

Another important difference between the two Muslim viziers was their political involvement. After the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate, Tusi addressed only two important political letters to the rulers of Shāmāt and Halab, - al-Malik al-Nāsir, Sayf al-Din b. Yaghmur and ʻAlā’ al-Din al-Qushaymuri, respectively[62] - and devoted most of his concerns to intellectual affairs, particularly the establishment of the observatory of Marāgha.[63]

He traveled to Baghdād and other cities with Hulāku and his successor Abāqākhān only to visit ʻulamā and raise the awqāf which he then spent on the school of Marāgha.[64] The main feature of Nizām al-Mulk’s career, on the other hand, was his involvement with socio-political affairs, as he was one of the most important political figure of his time.

[60] Brockelmann, vol. 2, pp. 508-12.