Ḍiyaʾ al-Mulk Aḥmad ibn Niẓām al-Mulk ( fa, ضیاءالملک احمد بن نظام‌الملک), was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

of the

Seljuq Empire The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to th ...

and then the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

. He was the son of

Nizam al-Mulk Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi (April 10, 1018 – October 14, 1092), better known by his honorific title of Nizam al-Mulk ( fa, , , Order of the Realm) was a Persian scholar, jurist, political philosopher and Vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising fro ...

, one of the most famous viziers of the Seljuq Empire.

Biography

Ahmad was born in

Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...

, he was the son of Nizam al-Mulk, and a Georgian princess, who was the niece or daughter of

Bagrat III of Georgia Bagrat III ( ka, ბაგრატ III) (c. 960 – 7 May 1014), of the Georgian Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Abkhazia from 978 on (as Bagrat II) and King of Georgia from 1008 on. He united these two titles by dynastic inheritance and, thro ...

. During the lifetime of his father, Ahmad lived in

Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ha ...

and

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

, and continued to do so in a few years after his father's death. In 1106/1107, he went to the court of

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

Muhammad I to file a complaint against the

rais ( ar, رئیس), plural , is an Arabic title meaning 'chief' or 'leader'. It comes from the word for head, . The corresponding word for leadership or chieftaincy is . It is often translated as 'president' in Arabic, and as 'boss' in Persian. Swa ...

(head) of

. When Ahmad arrived to the court, Muhammad I appointed him as his vizier, replacing Sa'd al-Mulk Abu'l-Mahasen Abi who had been recently executed on suspicion of heresy. The appointment was due mainly to the reputation of his Ahmad's father. He was then given various titles which his father held (Qewam al-din, Sadr al-Islam and Nizam al-Mulk). Ahmad was vizier for four years in which he in 1107/1108 accompanied Sultan Muhammad I during his campaign in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, where his army managed to defeat and kill the Mazyadid ruler Sayf al-dawla Sadaqa ibn Mansur, who bore the title "king of the Arabs". In 1109, Muhammad I sent Ahmad and Chavli Saqavu to capture the

Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

fortresses of

Alamut Alamut ( fa, الموت) is a region in Iran including western and eastern parts in the western edge of the Alborz (Elburz) range, between the dry and barren plain of Qazvin in the south and the densely forested slopes of the Mazandaran provinc ...

and Ostavand, but they failed to achieve any decisive result and withdrew. In 1110, an Ismaili attempted to assassinate Ahmad in a mosque at

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, but failed to do so. Ahmad was shortly replaced by Khatir al-Mulk Abu Mansur Maybudi as vizier of the Sejluq Empire. According to

Ali ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Din (Arabic), Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab people, ...

, Ahmad then retired to a private life in

, but according to Anushirvan ibn Khalid, Muhammad I had Ahmad imprisoned for ten years. In 1122, the son of Muhammad I,

Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

was ruling as the Sultan of the Seljuq Empire, with another son of Nizam al-Mulk, Shams al-Mulk Uthman, as his vizier. During the same year, the Abbasid caliph

al-Mustarshid Abu Mansur al-Faḍl ibn Ahmad al-Mustazhir ( ar, أبو منصور الفضل بن أحمد المستظهر; 1092 – 29 August 1135) better known by his regnal name Al-Mustarshid Billah ( ar, المسترشد بالله) was the Abbasid calip ...

deposed and imprisoned his vizier Amid al-dawla Jalal al-Din Hasan ibn Ali. Mahmud II then imposed Ahmad as al-Mustarshid's vizier. Ahmad later fought against the Mazyadid Dubays ibn Sadaqa. Ahmad also fortified the walls around

. One year later, Mahmud II removed Shams al-Mulk Uthman as his vizier, and had him executed. The Abbasid caliph then used this opportunity to get rid of Ahmad as his vizier. Ahmad then retired to a school in Baghdad which was founded by his father, the

Nezamiyeh The Nezamiyeh ( fa, نظامیه) or Nizamiyyah ( ar, النظامیة) are a group of institutions of higher education established by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century in Iran. The name ''nizamiyyah'' derives from his name. Founded a ...

, where he lived the last 25 years of his life, dying in 1149/1150.

References

Sources

* * C. L. Klausner, ''The Seljuk Vizierate, a Study of Civil Administration 1055-1194'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1973 * {{People of Khorasan People from Balkh Viziers of the Abbasid Caliphate 12th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Viziers of the Seljuk Empire 11th-century Iranian people 12th-century Iranian people Iranian people of Georgian descent People of the Nizari–Seljuk wars

Biography

See also

References

Sources