Comparable Analysis of Ghazali and Nizam al-Mulk Political Thoughts Ali Mansouri1

Saqifa (11 A.H/ 632 A.D) is considered symbolically important in history of political thought of Islam. Mentioning a tradition from Prophet about his successor chosen from Quraysh, was a crucial action that effect political thought of Islam. The theories “Qurayshi budan khaliphah” (caliphate was from Quraysh) and “Ahl e Hall va Aqd” (the group that choose the successor of caliph) are the most important results of Saqifa. Anyway the history of political thought of Islam had theories like Istikhlaf (choosing the successor of caliph), Istila (domination), Imamah and Saltant (kingship).The 4th and 5th centuries (10th and 11th A.D) in history of Islam are the golden age of Islamic civilization. Al-Mawardi, Khayyam, Ghazali and Nizam al-Mulk Tusi were living in this era. Political thought of Ghazali is dependent on religion and sect, while Nizam al-Mulk thought is based on siyasatnameh (The Book of Government, 479A.H / 1086A.D) which is obviously dependent on Iranian thoughts and it is inspired by Iranshahri political thought. Nizam al-Mulk doesn’t deal with theoretical discussions and their teachings on politics, but he mentioned the real matters which can be considered as the foundation of government. Inspired by the theory of “Fareh Izadi”, he dealt with kingship institution all over his book and he mentioned Khilafat institution fewer which is related to religion.On the other hand, justice is prior to religion in political thoughts of Nizam al-Mulk. Anyway, the theory of Fareh Izadi, justice, cohesion between land and religion are the main components of political thought of Iranshahri which are explained through siyasatnameh. However Ghazali and 1. PhD student in History of Iran (Islamic Era): Kharazmi University. Email:2. PhD student in History of Iran (Islamic Era): Shiraz University.