Part 77

He was placed on a camel532 and taken around the city, with someone behind him who was beating him with a leather strap. When he came to al-Karkh, they spread two worn-out doormats on him and spat in his face and reviled him — as is their custom when they gain power over their opponents at all times and in all places. He was reciting the verse: ‘Say [O Muhammad 'O Allah! Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will, and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honour whom You will, and You humble whom You will. In Your Hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent.')’ (Quran 3: 26) He was made to stand next to the caliph's palace and the skin of a bull with its horns attached was placed over him. He was hung with hooks in his mouth and lifted up onto the wood (crucified) whilst still alive. He trembled in agony until the end of the day, then he died, may Allah have mercy on him. His last words were: Praise be to Allah Who caused me to live blessed and caused me to die as a martyr.533 One of the main psychological characteristics of the Batiniheretical Shiites that has been proven throughout history is that they appear humble, pretend to be pitiful and act friendly when they are weak, but when they feel strong, they use the worst kinds of tyranny, force and vengeance. Tughril Beg, the Seljuk sultan who removed the Buwayhis from power, was outside Iraq with his army, fighting those who dissented with him and seeking to strengthen his state. When he had dealt with that problem, he returned to Baghdad with his army and restored the Abbasid caliph to his position after freeing him from prison. He managed to catch up with al-Basasiri and kill him, and Iraq was restored to the Sunni Abbasid caliphate once more. I have discussed these historical events in detail in my book Dawlat as-Salajiqah wal-Mashroo' al-Isldmi li Muqdwimat al-Taghalghul al-Batini wal-Ghazw as-Saleebi. The Seljuks realized the danger posed to them by the Fatimid message in the lands of the Abbasid caliphate, so they followed a wise policy after seizing the reins of power in Baghdad, in which they confronted the Fatimid message534 and its preachers with firm resolve. They pursued the Fatimid preachers, who had spread the Fatimid message in Persia, and also removed Shiite state officials who followed the Ismaili madh-hab from government and religious posts, and appointed Sunnis in their place.535 The Nizami schools: Sunni revival and confrontation with Rafidi Shiite thought Serious thinking about establishing these Nizami schools to stem the tide of Rafidi Imami and Ismaili Shiism began following the succession of Sultan Alp Arslan to the Seljuk throne in 455 AH. This Sultan appointed as his vizier an enthusiastic, capable Sunni individual by the name of al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn Is-haq at-Toosi, who was given the title of Nizam al-Mulk. His vizier believed that merely resisting the political influence of the Imami and Ismaili Shiites would not be successful in the long term unless this political resistance was also accompanied by an intellectual effort, because the Shiites — whether of the Imami or Ismaili variety — had been very active at that time and prior to it in promoting their madh-hab by many intellectual means. Nothing could succeed in resisting this intellectual activity except similar Sunni activity that could confront it with proof and evidence.536 The Fatimid state had prepared preachers through al-Azhar which they had made into an educational institution that focused on spreading their madh-hab in 378 AH.537 This is in addition to the educational programs that they carefully prepared to train preachers, especially in the capital of the Fatimid state, giving them a comprehensive education in their madh-hab, before sending them to Muslim lands to spread the Ismaili madh-hab. This was effective in spreading this madh-hab in some parts of the eastern Muslim world as a result of these ongoing organized efforts to spread this message.538 For all these reasons, Nizam al-Mulk decided to resist Shiite influence by means of the same methods by which it was being spread, by accompanying political resistance against the Shiites with intellectual resistance539, educating the Ummah about the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (SAAW) and the beliefs of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah based on divine revelation. Hence he decided to establish the Nizami schools which were named after him, because he is the one who worked hard to establish them. He made plans for them, established endowments to support them and chose qualified teachers for them. So it was natural that they should be named after him and not the Seljuks.540 Allah helped and guided Nizam al-Mulk in a manner that is rarely paralleled in religious, academic and political history. His schools survived for a long time, especially the Nizamiyah in Baghdad, which flourished for four centuries.