RESOURCESthis literature, especially for comparative purposes, has been based on
the French translations without consulting the Arabic text, so it pre-
sents the usual problems. More seriously, beginning with von Kremer,
Mawardi's abstract legal constructs have been treated as having been
in operation throughout the previous four centuries and have been
used as "descriptions" of Islamic political institutions in the seventh
and eighth centuries. Although Mawardi is not the best source for
early Islamic statecraft, he does provide an important statement of
political theory in the eleventh century and belongs in any discussion
of the intellectual history of the eleventh century.
The same applies to the Siyiisat Niimeh, which was composed in
New Persian for the Saljiiq Sul!an Malikshah by the Ni~am al-Mulk
(1018-1092) in 479/1086. This is an early and influential example of
the Islamic genre of "mirrors for princes" and includes instructive
anecdotes about Sasanian monarchs which should not be taken lit-
erally. The text is edited by]. Shi'ar as Siyiisatnamah; siyar al-muluk
(Teheran, 1348/1969). It was also edited with a French translation by
C. Schefer as Siassetnameh, traite de gouvernement, compose pour le
Sultan Melik-Chlih, par le vizir Nizam oul-Moulk (Paris, 1891-97).
There is a German translation by F. von Schowingen, Siyasatnama,
Gedanken und Geschichten (Freiburg, 1960), and an English trans-
lation by H. Darke, The Book of Government or Rules for Kings
(London, 1960). As with Mawardi, these translations have been used
widely, even for Sasanian institutions.
Modern studies of Islamic statecraft tend to concentrate on law,
religious theory, and abstract structure. Less attention is given to his-
torical change within that tradition, the development of these theories
in the context of an imperial state, or the theories to which Muslim
rulers themselves actually appealed. They also tend to present Islamic
statecraft as a monolithic tradition and differ mainly over which "in-
fluences" were most important for that tradition. An important early
statement defining Islamic statecraft in terms of precedents set by
Mu}:lammad is H. Sherwani's Studies in Muslim Political Thought and
Administration (Lahore, 1945), which is based on several of his earlier
articles. A classic definition of Islamic statecraft in terms of law is
E. Tyan's Institutions du droit public musulman, vol. I, Le califat
(Paris, 1954); vol. 11, Sultanat et califat (Paris, 1957). E.!.]. Rosenthal
emphasized the Hellenistic tradition of political theory as elaborated
by Muslim philosophers in Political Thought in Medieval Islam (Cam-
bridge, 1958). R. Walzer's "Aspects of Islamic Political Thought,"