The account of al-Turtushi (d. 520/1126) in Sirāj al-mulūk

Introduction to the text

Al-Turtushi was a leading religious and intellectual figure of his time. In 476/1084 he went east, as was frequently the custom with aspiring scholars from al-Andalus, and after performing the pilgrimage, he travelled widely in the Levant before finally settling in Alexandria. In the course of his travels, he met Ibn Tumart, al-Ghazali and other famous Muslim scholars and leaders. It is interesting to note that he had contact with teachers at the famous Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad where he established himself in 478/1085, and he might even have encountered Alp Arslan's vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, who by then was working for Malikshah, Alp Arslan's son and heir to the Seljuq sultanate. Even if the two men never met each other, al-Turtushi would have had access to stories and information from circles close to the Seljuqs and he would have heard about the battle of Manzikert, possibly even from eye-witnesses quite soon after the battle, when memories were fresh. It is clear that al-Turtushi admired Nizam al-Mulk, eulogising at length in Chapter 48 his remarkable skills in governing, and he talks in particular about his achievements in setting up the network of Nizamiyya madrasas throughout the Seljuq realm.