Investigating the style of SiyƗsatnƗmeh writing in Iran with emphasis on Khawaja's SiyƗsatnƗmeh

The history of SiyƗsatnƗmeh (The Book of Statecraft) writing in Iran goes back to the fall of the Sassanid regime and the arrival of Islam. As generally, SiyƗsatnƗmeh was a guide book for rulers to retain state and to prevent its weakening. The usual way of writing these books had been in style of advising rulers with a combination of stories, illustrations, narratives and hadiths. The SiyƗsatnƗmeh used to pen by vuzarƗ, philosophers, adibƗn and fuqahƗ. Most of these works are based on principles such as: appointing Shah at the head of all affairs, Shah as a shadow of god, paying attention to justice, pragmatism, consideration of political realities, the parallelism of religion and politics and fate. Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk was the minister of two Seljuk Shahs, Alp ArslƗn and Malik-Shah, who was born in 408AH and by order of the Shah of Seljuk, he wrote the book of Siyar al-mulûk in fifty chapters. The structure of Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk's book is based on five entities: monarchy, ministry, judiciary, military, and administrative body, which include: bureaucratic affairs and the regulation of the affairs of the court and the administrative arrangements of the court. Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk's Siyar al-mulûk and Al-Ghazali's NasƯhatul Mulnjk(The Counseling Kings) are the richest SiyƗsatnƗmeh in Iranian history. Studies have shown that although these two SiyƗsatnƗmehs are akin to each other, the differences between Khawaja and Al-Ghazali's approaches lead to different approaches in dealing with issues.