128 DESTINY DISRUPTED
Seljuk Empire: The Turks Invade the Islamic World
Nizam al-Mulk to organizing their conquests. There was much to organize
because the sultans put diverse relatives in charge of various lands as they
moved on, and the relatives regarded the territories given to them as their
personal possessions. Fresh off the steppes, these Turks did not fully grasp
the distinction between taxing and looting.
Nizam al-Mulk got the tax system straightened out and created a cadre
of roving inspectors to make sure the tax collectors didn't cheat. He used
the Sultan's war revenues to build roads and organized a police force to
protect travelers, so that merchants might feel safe transporting goods. He
also set up state-funded hostels spaced about a day's journey apart for their
convenience. This great vizier also built a network of schools and colleges
called madrassas to teach future officials of his Islamic society a uniform
doctrine. He ensured the uniformity of it by putting the curriculum in the
hands of orthodox Sunni ulama.
These measures were all part of his struggle against the centripetal
forces of his times. Nizam al-Mulk hoped to weave a stable Islamic com-
munity out of three ethnic strands. The Turks would keep order with their
military strength, the Arabs would provide unity by contributing reli-