Persian vizier (r. 1064-1092 CE) of the Seljuk Empire who served under sultans Alp Arsalan and Malik Shah I. After the assassination of Alp Arsalan (1072), Nizam al-Mulk enjoyed full authority in the Seljuk Empire dominating the then 18-year old Malik Shah. For the next 20 years, Nizam al-Mulk was the real ruler of the Seljuk Empire. Aside from his extraordinary influence as vizier, he is also well-known for institutionalisation of Sunni Muslim education through the establishment of the famous Nizamiyyah schools of higher education in Iraq, al-Jazira and Persia, which were named after him. The most famed and celebrated of all was al-Madrasa al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad (founded in 1067 CE), where Nizam al-Mulk appointed noted scholars such as al-Juwaynī and al-Ghazālī to professorships. He himself wrote a book called Siyāsatnāma (The Book of Government).
