Author: Neguin Yavari
\nLondon: Hurst Press, 2018<\/p>\n
The Future of Iran\u2019s Past is a critical study of the life and afterlife of Nizam al-Mulk (1018-92), celebrated Persian vizier and stalwart figure of power and authority in medieval Islamic society. He became the de facto ruler of a vast empire, with a final apotheosis as Islamic history\u2019s archetypal good vizier. Such was his standing among the glitterati of his era that he was considered an ideal replacement for the Abbasid caliph himself.<\/p>\n
As well as the outstanding figure in a long run of great viziers and administrators who dominated premodern Islamic politics, al-Mulk is remembered as the most prominent politician of the period to perceive new beginnings and radical departures. Neguin Yavari offers a close reading of al-Mulk\u2019s many legacies, revealing a complex imbrication of political and religious authority, as well as pre-Islamic and Islamic influences that have together shaped modern Iran. She shows that the new Iran of al-Mulk\u2019s singular vision, rather than a tale of uninterrupted Iranisation, is imbued with an extensive interplay of residual and emergent tendencies.<\/p>\n
Neguin Yavari is a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Central European University. She studied medieval history at Columbia University and has written on medieval Islamic history, political thought, and international history. Her books include Advice for the Sultan: Prophetic Voices and Secular Politics in Medieval Islam<\/em> (2014) and the co-edited Global Medieval: Mirrors for Princes Reconsidered<\/em> (2015).<\/p>\n \u2018The Future of Iran\u2019s Past is a highly original and extraordinarily sophisticated exploration of medieval Islamic political thought and its continuing legacy. Yavari has performed an inestimable service to the intellectual history of Islam. She subjects this genre of writing to a deep and sustained interpretation.\u2019\u2014Faisal Devji, Fellow of St. Antony\u2019s College, University of Oxford and author of Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity.<\/p>\n \u2018So much more than the life and times of medieval Iran\u2019s greatest vizier, The Future of Iran\u2019s Past serves up penetrating insights into the nature of pre-modern biography, the complex and often opaque workings of Islamic governance, and Iran\u2019s confrontation with its own history right down to the present day.\u2019\u2014 Richard W. Bulliet, Professor of History, Columbia University; author of Islam: The View from the Edge and The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilisation<\/p>\n \u2018This unconventional \u2018biography\u2019 of Nizam al-Mulk is woven around five exuberant essays, with challenging, often brilliant insights, on themes that lie at the heart of the Seljuq polity and dominion over which Nizam al-Mulk presided. They elucidate a novel and sophisticated interpretation of the political nature of Nizam al-Mulk\u2019s vision and its legacy.\u2019\u2014John Gurney, Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College, University of Oxford<\/p>\n \u2018With this outstanding study of Nizam al Mulk, one of the towering figures of Iranian-Islamic medieval history, Yavari surpasses the limits of traditional biographical writing. In this highly readable study, her critical reading of the sources and masterly approach to the literature challenge our understanding of Seljuq rule and culture.\u2019\u2014Christoph Werner, Chair of Iranian Studies, Philipps-Universit\u00e4t Marburg<\/p>\n