Mirror for the Muslim Prince: Islam and the Theory of Statecraft

6. Teaching Wisdom: A Persian Work of Advice for Atabeg Ahmad of Luristan

122 6 Teaching Wisdom A Persian Work of Advice for Atabeg Ahmad of Luristan L o u i s e M a r l o w Nusrat al-Din Ahmad (r. 1296–1330 or 1333)1 of Greater Luristan (Lur-i buzurg) was known, like earlier members of the Hazaraspid or Fazlavi dynasty to which he belonged, by the title of Atabeg.2 In contrast to some of his predecessors, and in particular his brother Afrasiyab, whose reign immediately preceded his own, Ahmad was almost uniformly portrayed as an exemplary ruler, praised for his wisdom and justice by his contemporaries and by posterity. This chapter is concerned with the distinctive political culture in which Atabeg Ahmad participated, the historical conditions that shaped it, and the literary forms that sustained it, 1. The uncertainty of Ahmad’s regnal dates reflects a lack of unanimity in the sources regarding the overall chronology of the Hazaraspid dynasty. According to Shabankarah’i (n.d., 209), Ahmad died in 732; Bidlisi (1994, 209) states that he died in 733; as do Mirkhwand (2001, 7:3635) and Khwandamir (1973, 3:328). Among modern scholars, Iqbal (1962, 447–48; 1999, 504) adopts the date of 730; Spuler (1971, 337; 1985, 897) records both 730 and 733, as does Minorsky (1986, 827). Other publications give 733 alone (Spuler 1985, 135; Zambaur 1927, 234). 2. Abu Tahir, the founder of the dynasty, is reported to have adopted the title Atabeg after establishing himself in Lur. The Hazaraspids were not, in fact, tutors to princes, as the term atabeg would imply; they adopted the title in a nominal fashion (ja‘li), as Bidlisi puts it (1994, 46–47). Additionally, the rulers of the dynasty sometimes used the title malik (see, for example, Rashid al-Din 1945, 255). Teaching Wisdom • 123 especially as exemplified in the Tuhfeh (The gift), a little-studied Persian work of counsel dedicated to him. In order to situate the Tuhfeh as fully as possible in its historical and cultural context, I shall begin with a discussion of the book’s recipient, Atabeg Ahmad, as he is depicted in contemporary accounts, especially those written in the regions of western and northwestern Iran. Next, I shall address the cultural forms that Ahmad promoted, as far as they can be reconstructed from the surviving literary works that bear his name. In the second half of the chapter, I shall discuss the Tuhfeh itself, with attention to its functions and significance in the environment of the Atabeg ’s court, and to the author’s careful use of certain literary strategies in order to communicate most effectively with his audience. I shall be especially concerned with the close relationship between advisory and historiographical types of writing, and with the common representation of Ahmad as a model ruler across this literary continuum. The Atabeg Nusrat al-Din Ahmad In a variety of literary sources dating from the period of his lifetime and after his death, the Atabeg Ahmad is depicted in conformity with the established Perso-Islamicate image of the model ruler. He is praised in effusive terms for his personal piety and devotion to ethical conduct, as well as for his political choices and actions. Hamd Allah Mustawfi Qazvini completed his Tarikh-i guzidah in 1329–30, toward the end of Ahmad’s long reign; the historian dedicated his work to Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, the vizier of the Il-Khan Abu Sa‘id (r. 1317–35), who knew Ahmad well and held him in high esteem. Mustawfi described Ahmad as “a king of pleasing conduct” (Qazvini 1983–84, 548; cf. Mirkhwand 2001, 7:3634). Among other contemporary admirers of Ahmad was Ibn Battuta (1304–68), who visited the regions of the Atabeg’s kingdom in approximately 1326–27 and made a second visit on his return in 1347.3 In his 3. There is, as Gibb has noted, some confusion as to which Atabeg(s) Ibn Battuta encountered on his visit(s) to Luristan. The traveler reports that at the time of his initial 124 • Louise Marlow subsequent narrative Ibn Battuta reports that Ahmad was a righteous king (malik salih) and a self-denying and upright man (zahid salih) (Ibn Battuta 1992, 210–11). Strikingly, even after his eventual return to his own land of Morocco, and having encountered and heard about countless rulers in the course of the thirty years of his travels, Ibn Battuta (1992, 671...