Originals and Fabrications in the Book Series “The Persian Mirrors for Princes Written in the Saljuq Period”

Two books have been published to date in the book series – the Persian Mirrors for Princes Written in the Saljuq Period: Originals and Fabrications. They are: Amir Mu‘izzi Nishapuri. The Siyasat-nama/Siyar al-muluk: A Fabrication Ascribed to Nizam al-Mulk (2020) and The Writings of Imam al-Ghazali (2017). Altogether, these books examine seven medieval texts: the Siyasat-nama/Siyar al-muluk, the Zad-i Akhirat, the Nasihat al-muluk, pt. 1, the Faza’il al-anam min rasa’il Hujjat al-Islam, the Ei Farzand/Ayyuha al-walad, the Pand-nama, and the Nasihat al-muluk, pt. 2. Four of the seven texts belong to the category of deliberate fabrications or the texts with false attribution, compiled with quite specific goals and for specific target audience.

1. The results of the historical, codicological, and textual analysis reveal that the Siyasat-nama/Siyar al-muluk (The Book of Government/The Vitae of Rulers) was compiled by Muhammad Mu‘izzi Nishapuri, the Head of poets department under the Saljuqid ruler Malik-shah. Subsequently, he ascribed it to the murdered Nizam al-Mulk in order to be appointed to a position at the Saljuqid court.

2. The last three texts published in the second book and ascribed to al-Ghazali are forgeries as well. The most famous of them is the Ayyuha al-walad (O Child). This text was initially written in Persian under the title Ei farzand, however, one or two generations after the death of Muhammad al-Ghazali. For its compilation were used: two genuine letters letters by Muhammad al-Ghazali; the ‘Ayniyya – letter by his brother Ahmad al-Ghazali to his famous disciple ‘Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadani; and the text taken from ‘Ayn al-Qudat’s own letter. Later, the compiled text was translated into Arabic and began to circulate under the title Ayyuha al-walad.

3. The third book is going to comprise two authentic texts: the Qabus-nama (The Book of Qabus) by Kay Kawus b. Iskandar b. Qabus and the Chahar maqala/Majma‘ al-nawadir (Four Discourses/Miscellany of Rarities) by Nizami ‘Aruzi Samarqandi. If possible, the Fustat al-‘Adala fi-Qawa‘id al-Saltana (A Tent of Justice In the Rules of Sultanate) compiled by Muhammad al-Khatib in 683 AH/1284-5 AD will be also included in this book. For the publication will be used the unique manuscript preserved in the National Library of France (BnF, Suppl. Turc 1120).

The article offers a review of the texts included in the series and deals with the problem of literary forgeries and fakes in medieval Islamic literature, their types as well as the ways of their identification.

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