A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifi's Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī

Author(s): Maria E. Subtelny

Source: Iranian Studies , Dec., 2003, Vol. 36, No. 4, Husayn Vaʿiz-i Kashifi (Dec., 2003),
pp. 601-614
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society of Iranian
Studies

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 Iranian Studies, volume 36, number 4, December 2003

Maria E. Subtelny

A Late Medieval Persian Summa on Ethics: Kashifl's Akhlaq-i

Muhsini

THE AKHLAQ-i MUHSIN! OF HUSAYN VACIz-I KASHIFI IN MANY RESPECTS REPRESENTS A

late medieval summa, or codification, of the Persian genre of ethical and advice
literature. Designated variously as andarz, pand, nasiihat, siyar and akhliiq, the genre
of political advice literature is an ancient one in Persian culture, going back to Late
Antiquity and exhibiting concordance with Greek and Indian sources. Most works of
Sasanian political wisdom literature, such as the Advices of Anushirvan, Buzurjmihr,
and Ardashir, as well as those attributed to the ancient Greek sages Aristotle, Plato, and
others, are of indeterminate authorship. Many have been preserved only in late
manuscript copies dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and some, like the
famous Letter of Tansar, may even have been composed in later periods.'
From the eleventh century onward, these "mirrors for princes," as they are often
referred to in the secondary literature, were composed by members of the indigenous
Iranian religious and bureaucratic intelligentsia for Turko-Mongolian rulers to whom
they wanted to communicate Perso-Islamic concepts of statecraft, administration, and
social order. Representing a combination of the ideal and the real-in the latter case
often providing much valuable information about actual conditions at the time of their
composition-these works played an important role both in shaping and in reflecting
the values of medieval Iranian society.
There has been a fair amount of research done on medieval Persian ethical and
advice literature of the pre-Mongol and Mongol periods, particularly on such classic
texts as the Qbabs-namah of Kay Ka'us, Nizam al-Mulk's Siyar al-muluk (or Siyiisat-
namah), and the Nasrhat al-muliuk, especially that portion of the work whose
2
authorship by al-Ghazali has been put into serious question. Far less work has been

Maria Subtelny is Associate Professor in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern
Civilizations at the University of Toronto, and a member of the Journal's Editorial Board.

1. For the Sasanian models and their incorporation into the Islamic tradition, see Charles-
Henri de Fouchecour, Moralia: Les notions morales dans la litte'rature persane du 3e/9e au
7e/13e sie'cle (Paris, 1986), 19ff.

2. For a survey of works from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, see de Fouchecour,
Moralia; and the following works by Ann K. S. Lambton: "Quis custodiet custodes? Some
Reflections on the Persian Theory of Government," Studia Islamica 5 (1956): 125-48; "Justice
in the Medieval Persian Theory of Kingship," Studia Islamica 17 (1962): 94-95 and 115-19; and
"Islamic Mirrors for Princes," in Atti del convegno internazionale sul tema, La Persia nel
medioevo (Roma, 1970), Accademia nazionale dei Lincei (Rome, 1971), 419-42. On al-

ISSN 0021-0862 pnrnt/ISSN 1475-4819 onlineu03/040601-14 2003.The Society for Ihnian Sudies a Carf
DOI 10. 1080/02 1086032000139258 W TaylsrbPrmnhiOroup

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602 Subtelny

done on the advice literature of the post-Mongol period, that is, subsequent to the
magisterial Akhlaq-i Nasirt of Nasir al-Din Tusi (d. 672/1274). In general, the focus of
study has been to glean from advice literature a coherent theory of the state or a
systematic moral or social philosophy, none of which appears to have been their
primary objective.3 Rather, their intent was practical and sententious, relying more on
anecdote and maxim than on philosophical or theological argument.
The Akhliiq-i Muhsini was written in Herat during the cultural highpoint of
Timurid rule in Khurasan and Central Asia.4 Although dedicated to the Timurid ruler,
Sultan-Husayn Bayqara (r. 873/1469-911/1506), it was addressed primarily to his son,
Abu al-Muhsin Mirza (d. 913/1507), whence the title, "Muhsin's Ethics."5 The date of
completion of the work is usually given as 900/1494-95, but I would like to argue for
the later date of 907/1501-02 on several grounds.6

Ghazali's work, see Patricia Crone, "Did al-Ghazali write a Mirror for Princes? On the
Authorship of Nasthat al-muluik," Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 10 (1987): 167-91.

3. See Aziz Al-Azmeh, Muslim Kingship: Power and the Sacred in Muslim, Christian, and
Pagan Politics (London-New York, 1997), 89.
4. There are numerous lithograph editions of the work, but to date no critical edition has
ever been published. A Tajik transcription of the work appeared in Dushanbe in 1991-see
Khusain Voizi Koshifi, Futuvvatnomai Sultoni-Akhloki Mukhsini-Risolai Khotamiia. The
edition utilized in this study is the 22nd lithographed edition, Lucknow: Nawal Kishor,
1377/1957 (hereafter AM). I have also consulted several of the earliest manuscript copies of the
work, in particular: the copy (dated 907/1501-02) in the Institute of Oriental Studies (IOS),
Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in Tashkent, no. 2116/I-for a description,
see A. A. Semenov et al., Sobranie vostochnykh rukopisei Akademii nauk Uzbekskoi SSR, 11
vols. (Tashkent, 1952-87), 3: 107; the copy (dated 945/1539) in the Bibliotheque Nationale
(BN) in Paris, ancien fonds persan 124-for a description see Francis Richard, Catalogue des
manuscrits persans, vol. 1: Ancien fonds (Paris: Bibliothbque Nationale, 1989), 1: 140-41; and
the recently acquired copy in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, 997.47.1 (dated
900/1494-95)-for which see Sotheby's Catalogue, Sale LN7255: Oriental Manuscripts and
Miniatures (London, 23 April 1977), no. 86.

5. His full name was Mucin al-Din Abu al-Muhsin Bahadur. The title, which contains a play
on the word muhsin, meaning beneficent, may also be read as "Beneficent morals"-see AM, 2,
where the author uses the Arabic phrase, "Morals of the beneficent" (akhldq al-muhsinin). This
is sometimes mistaken for the title of the work.

6. The date of completion is contained in a chronogam (tarikh) which occurs at the very
end of the verses with which the work concludes, and which reads:

I said to the pen: 0 you who have made your head your feet,*
By whose arrival the eyes of speech became illuminated,
The writing of the Akhlaq-i Muhsint has been completed,
Write the date [of its completion] also from Akhldq-i Muhsini.
*The image is that of a reed pen whose split nib, which is its "head," resembles two feet.
The chronogram is contained in the title of the work, Akhldq-i Muhsint, which is
numerically equivalent to 900. However, it is also possible to read the chronogram as za Akhlaq-
i Muhsint ("from Akhldq-i Muhsini"), which yields the date 907. The ambiguity regarding the

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 Akhliaq-i Muhsint 603

To begin with, the date 907 appears in numerals in the colophon of the Tashkent
manuscript, which until the recent appearance of the Royal Ontario Museum
manuscript, was the earliest known copy of the work.7 Executed by the outstanding
calligrapher of the Timurid court of Herat, Mir-cAli al-Husayni al-Katib al-Haravi (d.
1544), the Tashkent copy is an exquisite, large-format manuscript, with a dazzling
illuminated double-page frontispiece (fig. 1) and many miniature paintings.8 Hence, I
am inclined to believe that it was the actual presentation copy made for Sultan-Husayn
and his son, both of whom are mentioned by name in the introduction.9
Secondly, the date of 907 is also found written out in words in the text of the
Tashkent manuscript, a fact that seems to have escaped scholarly attention. In chapter
21 on Generosity, Kashifi states that, "at the time of the composition (ta3lif) of this
treatise, which is the year 907," approximately 940 years had passed since the death of
Hatim al-Tayy, a semi-legendary personage discussed in the chapter as a paragon of
generosity.10
Finally, and most significantly, the date 907 accords better with the historical
circumstances which occasioned the dedication of the work to Abu al-Muhsin Mirza.
As governor of Marv, Abu al-Muhsin had rebelled against his father several times in

date of completion is noted in some of the catalogue descriptions of the work-see, for example,
Wilhelm Pertsch, Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der Koniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, vol. 4:
Verzeichniss der persischen Handschriften (Berlin, 1888), 308; and more recently, Richard,
Catalogue, 140; and Yuri Petrosyan et al., Pages of Perfection: Islamic Paintings and
Calligraphy from the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Milan, 1995), 253.

7. For these manuscripts see note 4. Unlike the Tashkent manuscript, the ROM manuscript
has no colophon, although the date 900 appears in numerals after the chronogram, as well as in a
separate dedicatory roundel-see the comments on this by A. Soudavar, "The Concepts of 'Al-
Aqdamo Asahh' and 'Yaqin-e Sabeq', and the Problem of Semi-Fakes," Studia Iranica 28
(1999): 264-66.

8. For a beautiful album containing calligraphic specimens by Mir-cAli, see Petrosyan,

Pages of Perfection, 226-29, no. 40. The ROM manuscript also contains miniatures-for a
discussion of the paintings in both manuscripts, see the article by Lisa Golombek in this volume.

9. See AM, 3-4. Besides the Akhlaq-i Muhsint, Kashifi also completed his Makhzan al-
insh&J and Asrar-i QClsimi in 907-for which see my introduction, p. 464 above. However, this
date referred not to the year of composition, which probably occurred over a period of time, but
rather to the year when the works were actually completed and/or dedicated to a patron.

10. See Akhlaq-i Muhsint, Ms., Tashkent, IOS, no. 2116/I, fol. 61b; thus also AM, 67,
although here the approximate number of years is given as 945 rather than 940. This same phrase
in the Bibliotheque Nationale manuscript contains the date of 908 rather than 907, clearly a
copyist's error-see Akhlaq-i Muhsint, Ms., Paris, BN, ancien fonds persan 124, fol. 44a.
Curiously, in the Royal Ontario Museum manuscript, the date is missing altogether, and just as
in AM, 67, the approximate number of years after the death of Hatim al-Tayy is given as 945
rather than 940-see Akhlaq-i Muhsini, Ms., Toronto, ROM, 997.47.1, fol. 48b. Hatim al-Tayy
lived in the second half of the sixth century, but his exact dates are unknown.

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604 Subtelny

904/1498, and was pardoned two years later, in 906/1500.11 It was his reconciliation
with his father, which Kashifi compares to the meeting between the biblical Jacob and
Joseph, that served as the immediate pretext for the dedication of the work to him and
his father.12 Abu al-Muhsin's "repentance" (tawba), as it is dubbed by Kashifi, was
made at his father's court in Herat, and it appears to have included his public
renunciation of wine-drinking.'3 Despite this formal gesture, however, the young
prince remained an unregenerate alcoholic, and in 913/1507, after spending the
previous night drinking heavily, he was killed, along with his brother Muhammad
Muhsin Mirza, after a battle against the Uzbeks outside Mashhad.'4 In light of these
arguments, the ROM manuscript presents a challenging codicological problem. 15
With respect to its contents, the Akhlaq-i Muhsini is based in part on key
philosophico-ethical concepts expressed in Tusi's Akhlaq-i Nasirt, the work which
exerted the single greatest philosophical influence on Persian advice literature of the
post-Mongol period.16 In his work, Tusi expounded a theory of state and society,
baased on Aristotelian ideas, as these had been articulated chiefly by the tenth-century
philosopher, al-Farabi (d. 339/950).17 According to Tusi, man is by nature a civic being
(al-insarn madaniyy bi-al-tab), that is to say, a city-dweller, who is destined to live in
an urban environment, which represents "civilization" (tamaddun), motivated as he is
by the need for social intercourse (ijtimic). This is the Aristotelian concept of man as a
"political animal" (politikon zoon), although the traditional English rendering of the
phrase does not convey the original intent of the formula. The goal of government is
the ordering of society in such a way as to allow man to achieve perfection (kamiil-i
insanO), which is the source of happiness and the goal of all morality. The duty of the
ruler, whom Tusi calls the "regulator of the virtuous city" (mudabbir-i madina-i
fazila), is to ensure that each class in society remains in its proper place and that no one
transgresses the boundaries of his station (martaba) in life. This constitutes the essence

11. See Ghiyas al-Din Khvandamir, Tarikh-i Habib al-siyarfi akhbar-i afrad-i bashar, ed.
Jalal al-Din Huma3i, 4 vols. (Tehran, 1362/1984), 4: 239 and 245 (for the rebellions), and 4: 257
(for the pardon, which took place "around the time of the death of cAli-Shir Nava3i," i.e.,
906/1500).

12. AM, 4.

13. For references to his repentance, see AM, 4 and 133 (in chapter 33, which is devoted in
part to the pernicious effects of wine-drinking).

14. Khvandamir, Habib al-siyar, 4: 384-86 and 393.

15. See the solution proposed by Lisa Golombek in her article in this volume.

16. For the significance of the Akhl2iq-i Ndsiri, see Louise Marlow, Hierarchy and
Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought (Cambridge, 1997), 176; and Lambton, "Islamic Mirrors,"
439.

17. See Christian Jambet, "Ideal du politique et politique iddale selon Nasir al-Din Thsl," in
NasJr al-Din Tasf: Philosophe et savant du XIIIe si&cle, ed. N. Pourjavady and 2. Vesel (Tehran,
2000), 32.

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 Akhlkq-i Muhsini 605

of justice (caddlat), which is the chief virtue that regulates all others, and which is to be
equated with Islamic law, and therefore with absolute wisdom (hikmat-i mutlaq).'8
The pivotal concept expressed in the Akhlaq-i Nasiri, as well as in subsequent
Persian works of political advice, is that of justice (cadl, caddlat), which was
understood not as a philosophical notion or legal abstraction, but rather as the
maintenance of equilibrium (ictiddl) in society which, according to ancient Persian
tradition, was hierarchically structured according to four classes.'9 Without the
regulating force of justice, man's natural disposition, which is to dominate others and
to infringe upon their rights, threatens the stability of society and prevents the various
classes from cooperating together in what Tusi refers to as the provision of "mutual
aid" (mu Cavanat), which he regards as the only means to ensure the physical survival
both of the individual and of the human species.20 From this "pessimistic
anthropology," to borrow the apt formulation of Aziz Al-Azmeh, derives the absolutist
imperative that formed the basis of all medieval Islamic political discourse.2'
The ruler, who is conceived of as an absolute monarch (malik Calaj al-itlaq),
maintains justice and the hierarchical structuring of society through his coercive
capacity (siyiasat), a term which is usually translated loosely as "government," but
22
which had a more specific meaning in medieval political advice literature. The ruler's
monopoly on punishment is legitimated by his upholding of Islamic law (Sharica) and
doctrinal orthodoxy (sunna), in keeping with the often-quoted Sasanian motto,
"Kingship and religion are twin brothers."23 The instrument of the ruler's coercive
capacity-the army-is dependent upon the productive potential of the subject
population, which in turn is dependent upon the ruler's ability to sustain a suitable
environment for the maximization of that potential, chiefly in the form of taxation
revenues derived from agricultural production.24
This functional interdependency was frequently epitomized in the advice literature
by the maxim of the "circle of justice," which is attested in many variants, attributed to
different authors, and sometimes even depicted graphically: no kingship without the

18. Nasir al-Din Tusi, Akhlaq-i NMsird, ed. Mujtaba Minuvi and cAliriza Haydari (Tehran,
1360/1982), 247-58, esp. 252-53 and 284; G. M. Wickens, trans., The Nasirean Ethics by Nasir
al-Din Thsi (London, 1964), 187-95, esp. 190.

19. Tusi, Akhliq-i Naisirt, esp. 288; Wickens, Nasirean Ethics, esp. 230. On this point see
Lambton, "Justice," 92ff.
20. Tusi, Akhliq-i Ndsirf, 249-50; Wickens, Nasirean Ethics, 189 (where it is also rendered
as "co-operation").

21. Al-Azmeh, Muslim Kingship, 115.

22. Tusi, Akhliaq-i Nasiri, 252-53 and 256; see also A. K. S. Lambton, "Early Timurid
Theories of State: Hafiz Abriu and Nizam al-Din gami," Bulletin d'etudes orientales 30 (1978),
5, n. 19. It sometimes also had the even more specific connotation of "capital punishment."
23. See Lambton, "Justice," 103; for the transmission of this idea into Islam, see Shaul
Shaked, "From Iran to Islam: Notes on Some Themes in Transmission," Jerusalem Studies in
Arabic and Islam 4 (1984): 37-40.

24. See Lambton, "Islamic Mirrors," 419-22; also Lambton, "Justice," 104ff.

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606 Subtelny

army, no army without revenues, no revenues without subjects, no subjects without

justice, and no justice without a king.25 According to this circular logic, the
maintenance of political power depends upon the military force of the army; the army
is maintained through revenues collected from the tax-paying population, chiefly from
the agrarian sector, which in all preindustrial societies represented the main basis of the
economy; in order for it to realize its productive potential, the revenue-producing
peasantry depends in turn upon the justice of the ruler in the key areas of taxation and
security.26 The point of the maxim is to highlight the importance of justice for the
stability of the state, and in one telling summation of the formula, justice is referred to
as "the pivot of the well-being of the whole world.",27 The role of agricultural
production in this scheme was of fundamental importance, and many of the
formulations of the maxim were based on the metaphor of the garden.28
In the Akhlaq-i Muhsint, Kashifi reiterates the key Nasirean concepts that "people
are by nature civic beings," (adamiyan madaniyy bi-al-tab%C)29 and that mutual
cooperation (mu civanat) is the sine qua non of human civilization (tamaddun), which
in turn is made possible through justice (caddlat).30 Kashifi's definition of justice is the
same as Tusi's, although he attributes it simply to "the [Greek] sages" (hukamd),
namely, the maintenance of equilibrium (saviyat) in society.31 The duty of the )ust
ruler, whom Kashifi calls the "shadow of the grace of God" (sayah-i luff-i khuda), I is
to ensure that each class retains its place in the hierarchical order by preventing the
predominance of one group over another:

25. For this concept, see Maria E. Subtelny, Le monde est un jardin: Aspects de l'histoire
culturelle de l'Iran medieval, Cahiers de Studia Iranica 28 (Paris, 2002), chap. 2, esp. 58-65, and
63 for a graphic representation. For a discussion of the circle of justice, which unfortunately
appeared too late for me to take into account in the aforementioned study, see Linda T. Darling,
"'Do Justice, Do Justice, For That is Paradise': Middle Eastern Advice for Indian Muslim
Rulers," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 22.1-2 (2002): 3-19.

26. Thus for example, Kay Ka'us b. Iskandar b. Qabus b. Vashmgir, Qabus-namah, ed.
Reuben Levy (London, 1951), 125; Muhammad Ghazali, Nasihat al-muliuk, ed. Jalal al-Din
Huma'i (Tehran, 1351/1972), 100; Lambton, "Islamic Mirrors," 425, 431, and 435; and
Lambton, "Justice," 100.
27. Thus, for example, Fakhr al-Din Razi, JIamic al-'ulum, litho. ed. (Bombay, 1323/1905),
207.

28. See Subtelny, Le monde est un jardin, 62-63.

29. AM, 6. The same formula is repeated in Kashifi's Makhzan al-inshai and Futuvvat-
namah-i Sultani-for which see the articles by Colin Mitchell and Arley Loewen, respectively,
in this volume, 501 and 563.
30. AM, 6 and 34.

31. AM, 35.

32. This is one of several instances where Kashifi cites verses from the Masnavr of Rumi to
illustrate his point-see AM, 35: "The just ruler (shah-i cadit) is the shadow of the grace of God
(sayah-i luff-i haqq)"; for others, see n. 50 below.

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 Akhlaq-i Muhsint 607

If [the subjects] do not have the protection (himayat) of justice, the powerful
in society will destroy the weak, and when the weak are destroyed, the
powerful will also not remain in their place. This is because people are bound
together by their means of livelihood (ma cshat). Thus, the organization
(intizaim) of human society is made possible only through justice.33

Kashifi could not have voiced more bluntly the pessimistic view that formed the
basis of medieval Islamic theories of state and society when he says that, without a
ruler to maintain equilibrium among the various classes of society, people would
"devour each other" (aidamiyan bac2J baczJria bikhurdandi).34
In accordance with the traditional Persian conception of the ordering of society,
Kashifi states that the subjects of kings (khuddam-i saldfin) are essentially divided into
four classes, each of which he compares to one of the four elements: 1) the military, or
"the people of the sword," who he says may be compared to fire; 2) the bureaucrats
and administrators, or "the people of the pen," whom he compares to air; 3) the
merchants and artisans, or "the people of business affairs," whom he compares to
water; and 4) the peasants and agriculturalists, who may be compared to earth.35 He
carries the analogy further by comparing the elements which represent the four classes
of society to the four humors of the human constitution-just as the preponderance of a
particular humor causes an imbalance in the bodily temperament (mizaj-i khulq), so
does the domination of one class over the others cause the constitution of the kingdom
(mizij-i mulk) to decline.36
Kashifi identifies the Sharica as the regulating code (qnanu) and the 3rinciple
(qaCjida) that enables the various classes of society to live together in harmony:

Without the principle of the Sharica, no right (haqq) can be established, and
without the controlling force of [the ruler's] punitive capacity (siyiasat), the
matters of the Holy Law and the Faith would not be regulated.38

This code is upheld by means of the ruler's punitive capacity (siyazsat), which he
calls a controlling force (zabita), for "just as there is no kingship without justice, there
is no justice without the coercive capacity of the ruler."39 While Kashifi reiterates the
traditional Iranian idea that "kingship and religion are twins," his focus is more on the
means by which they may be maintained.40

33. AM, 34.

34. AM, 121 (an idea that he states is based on a prophetic Tradition).

35. AM, 35-36.

36. AM, 36; see also Lambton, "Justice," 117.

37. AM, 6 and 121.

38. AM, 12 1.
39. AM, 121.

40. AM, 6; see also Lambton, "Justice," II 6-17.

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608 Subtelny

According to him, there are two types of siyasat: siyiisat of oneself that allows one
to elevate one's moral character, and siyasat of others. The latter is of two types:
siyisat of the elite of the court (khavaiss va muqarrabdn-i dargah), and siyasat of
subjects (cavamm va ra'Cya). The way to control these is to keep the bad ones always
in fear and the good ones in hope.4' He compares political power (saltanat) to a sapling
in a garden, and the punitive capacity (siyasat) to irrigation water: "It is necessary to
moisten the roots of the sapling of power with the water of siyasat, so that the fruits of
peace and security will be produced as a result."42 Among the "benefits" of siyaisat is
the suppression of sedition (fitna): "If the fire of siyasat is hot, seditious people
(mardum-ifattan) will run away and hide, but if they see just a little weakening in the
matter of siyiasat, they will raise a thousand revolts."43 Kashifi states that if a ruler does
not heed this advice regarding his punitive capacity, the foundations of his kingdom
will soon suffer damage and the basis of his power will be shaken.
The main prerequisite for the maintenance of justice is, in short, a centralized,
absolutist state on the ancient Persian model, legitimated by Islamic law, and a
flourishing subject population is the foundation of a stable state, since it represents the
chief source of revenues to support the military. Kashifi is more explicit about the role
and function of the peasantry in the state:

If the tax collectors oppress the peasantry, its attitude toward the ruler will
turn sour and it will lose interest in agricultural development. [As a result],
the sultan's revenues will decrease, and thus also the provisions for the army.
If the military has no provisions, they will turn away from service, and when
an enemy appears there will be few to help. In this way, the kingdom will be
lost."

Kashifi's utilization of the terminology of financial accounting to underscore the

economic role of the peasantry reflects the characteristic Timurid preoccupation with
fiscal management, as in the following formulation, which is cited also in the famous
Timurid agricultural manual, Irshdd al-ziraca (921/1515):45

I have heard from great men who weigh their words well,
That, for a ruler, the peasantry is worth more than a treasure,
For if debits (kharj) are made to the latter, it will eventually be exhausted,

41. AM, 120.

42. AM, 123. See also n. 65 below.

43. AM, 124.

44. AM, 187.

45. For the Irshad al-zirtlCa as a unique variant of Persian advice literature, see Subtelny, Le
monde est un jardin, 65-68.

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 Akhlaq-i Muhsinr 609

Whereas every moment a new credit (dakhl) comes in from the former.46

Like his predecessor, Jalal al-Din Davvani, the author of the Akhliq-i Jalhil
(composed between 872/1467-882/1477), which also echoes the Nasirean ethics,
Kashifi argues that, because the ruler was put in charge over others by God, his ethical
qualities (akhliiq) must be beyond reproach, and he expounds on the activities he
should engage in and the virtues he should possess if he aspires to the coveted title of
"the Just."47 The titles of the forty chapters that comprise the book provide an overview
of these:48 1) On divine worship (cibidat), 2) On sincerity (ikhlas), 3) On prayer
(duca), 4) On thanksgiving (shukr), 5) On patience (sabr), 6) On contentment (riza), 7)
On reliance on God (tavakkut), 8) On shame (haya), 9) On continence (ciffat), 10) On
decorum (adab), 11) On ambition (culav himmat), 12) On resolution (cazm), 13) On
effort and striving (jidd va jahd), 14) On firmness and perseverance (sabat va
istiqaPmat), 15) On justice (caddlat), 16) On forgiveness (cafv), 17) On clemency
(hilm), 18) On politeness and courtesy (khalq va rafq va narmt), 19) On compassion
and mercy (shafaqat va marhamat), 20) On doing charitable works (khayrut va
mabarrit), 21) On generosity and graciousness (sakhMvat va ihsan), 22) On humility
and reverence (tavazuc va ihtiram), 23) On trustworthiness and probity (amainat va
diydnat), 24) On keeping pledges (vafai bi-cahd), 25) On truthfulness (sidq), 26) On the
satisfaction of the needs [of others] (injfh-i hajiat), 27) On careful deliberation (ta'annt
va ta'ammul), 28) On [taking] counsel and planning (mashvarat va tadbTr), 29) On
prudence and foresight (hazm va dir-andishi), 30) On bravery (shajacat), 31) On zeal
(ghayrat), 32) On the punitive capacity [of the ruler] (siyasat), 33) On vigilance and
watchfulness (tayaqqu; va khibrat), 34) On judging character (firasat), 35) On keeping
secrets (kitmian-i asrar), 36) On seizing opportunities and striving to acquire a good
name (ightinam-i fursat va talab-i nfk-ndmT, 37) On respecting [people's] rights
(ra Cjyat-i huquq), 38) On keeping company with the righteous (suhbat-i ikhtiydir), 39)
On repulsing the wicked (daff-i ashrair), 40) On the treatment of courtiers and their
etiquette (tarbiyat-i khidam va hasham va adab-i ishan).
Numerous anecdotes are related by Kashifi to illustrate each of the virtues and
points he is expounding on. This is perhaps the most outstanding feature of the work,
as it amasses tales culled from pre-Islamic and Islamic lore, ancient Iranian mythology
and history, as well as Scripture and literature, and as such it represents a veritable
treasury of popular tales and traditions that circulated in the medieval Iranian world of
the fifteenth century.49 The figures represented include the biblical prophets Moses,

46. AM, 59; Qasim b. Yusuf Abu Nasri, Irshad al-zirif a, ed. Muhammad Mushiri (Tehran,
1346/1968), 25.

47. AM, 6.

48. For the list, see AM, 7-8. Some of the titles appear in a shortened version in the list in
the Tashkent manuscript, but they follow the same order-see AM, Ms., Tashkent, IOS, no.
21 16/I, fols. 7b-8a.

49. For some of these tales, see the article in this issue by Lisa Golombek, who discusses
them in connection with the illustrations in the Tashkent and Toronto manuscripts.

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610 Subtelny

Solomon, David, Abraham, Isaac and Joseph; the ancient Greek philosophers, often
referred to simply as "the sages" (hukama); the ancient Iranian kings, Jamshid and
Faridun; the Sasanian rulers, Ardashir, Bahram Gur, Hurmuz, and Khusraw Parviz; the
Muslim caliphs cUmar, Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun; the Samanid rulers, Ismacil
and Nasr b. Ahmad; the Saljuq rulers, Malik-Shah and Sultan Sanjar; the Ghaznavid
ruler, Sultan Mahmud; and the Sufis CAbd al-Khaliq Ghijduvani and Shah Subhan. The
most prominent of these is without a doubt the Sasanian ruler, Khusraw Anushirvan,
known as "the just king" (al-malik al- cadil), together with his vizier, Buzurjmihr, while
Alexander the Great comes in a close second. Besides the Prophet Muhammad, his
cousin, son-in-law and first Shicite imam, cAli, is also mentioned, particularly in con-
nection with the virtue of bravery, as are the latter's sons Hasan and Husayn, although
they do not figure as prominently as they would in a work of more pronounced Shicite
orientation, which this clearly is not.
Numerous poetic citations interrupt the prose narrative of the text. While for the
most part the authors of these short poetic commentaries on the text are not identified,
it is likely that Kashifi himself was the author of at least some of them, since he was
known to have authored a Divan of poetry under the pen-name, "Kashif'i" ("the
Unveiler"). Kashifi's interest in the great thirteenth-century Persian mystical poet, Jalal
al-Din Rumi is reflected in the relatively large number of citations from his Masnavi-i
ma cnav. 50
The anecdotes cited in connection with justice are intended to illustrate such
classic notions expressed in the Persian mirrors literature as the fact that a non-Muslim
ruler who is just (cddil) is preferable to a Muslim ruler who is tyrannical (;ilim). In this
case, Kashifi makes the comparison between the Sasanian king, Anushirvan, who
although a Zoroastrian, is always associated in people's minds with justice, and the
Umayyad governor, Hajjaj b. Yusuf, who despite being a Muslim is always cursed on
account of his tyrannical behavior.5' Referring to the popular belief, which was
apparently buttressed by a prophetic Tradition, that the body of a just ruler never
decomposes, Kashifi relates the story about the Abbasid caliph, al-Ma&mun, who in
order to ascertain the truth of this belief, ordered the opening of Anushirvan's tomb at
Ctesiphon and saw that his body had indeed remained fresh.52
To illustrate the importance for a ruler to exercise his coercive capacity, Kashifi
cites an anecdote about Tamghaj Khan (presumably the Karakhanid ruler) who dealt
harshly with a rogue who brought him a bouquet of flowers which he had picked from
other people's gardens. Tamghaj Khan's argument was that if a person enters the
garden of another without permission and picks flowers from it, this may lead to other
actions, such as picking fruit from the trees. Utilizing the garden image, Kashifi sums
up the anecdote with the following verse:

50. See for example, AM, 10, 23, 37, 52, and 97. Kashifi was also the author of an
anthology of the Masnavt entitled Lubb-i lubdb-i Masnavf (Qum, 1344/1966).

5 1. AM, 34-35.

52. AM, 36.

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 Akhlaiq-i Muhsint 611

Every thorn that appears in the rose garden of the state,

Should have its head cut off immediately with the sword.53

The fortieth and last chapter, which is by far the longest and probably the most
original of the work, deals with the ruler's treatment of his servitors (hasham va
khidam), who include ministers of state (arkain-i dawlat), notables of the court, (acvan,
a yCyn khavaiss-i bazrgah), deputies (navvaib), chamberlains (hujjab), and other
functionaries (gumashtagan) and dependents (mutacalliqin), as well as with their
behaviour (iadiab) toward the ruler.54 The contents of this chapter undoubtedly reflect
the actual nature of relations in the contemporary Timurid court environment, and as
such are an invaluable source for understanding the political culture of the later
Timurids.
The main point of this chapter is that rulers need trustworthy people to act as so
many "eyes and ears" in order to obtain information from the provinces and to
ascertain the conditions of the revenue-producing peasantry.55 Kashifi identifies four
foundations of what he calls the "palace of the sultanate," each of which he regards as
indispensable: 1) a military commander (amrr) to protect the frontiers from enemies; 2)
a vazir to oversee the collection and disbursement of tax revenues; 3) a hiakim to
investigate cases, obtain justice for the weak, and extirpate the roots of sedition; and 4)
56
a trustworthy head of intelligence (sahib-khabar) to gather information. In short, he
says, the people the ruler cannot do without are either "men of the sword" (arbab-i
sayf)-military commanders (umara), royal bodyguards (Tchkiyan),57 cavalrymen
(sipiahiyian), and the like-or "men of the pen" (ashab-i qalam)-the heads of the
financial bureaucracy (vuzara), financial auditors (mustawflyan), secretaries (dabtrizn
and tax officials (cummdl).58 The main difference between these two groups is the
that men of the pen never aspire to take over a kingdom, whereas men of the sword
often do; moreover, men of the sword empty a sultan's treasury, while men of the pen
fill it.59
Kashifi enumerates twenty-five "conditions" (shart) concerning the comportment
of servitors toward the ruler, the first of which is humility and the demonstration of
subservience.60 However, he also states that servitors are obliged to temper the natural
tendency of kings toward tyrannical behavior "by means of affable words and flattery,"

53. AM, 121-22.

54. AM, 186.

55. AM, 186.

56.AM, 187-88.

57. Thus perhaps instead of ilchiyumn ("ambassadors"); the enumeration of offices is no

found in the Tashkent manuscript, fol. 161 a.
58. AM, 188.

59. AM, 196.

60. AM, 201.

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612 Subtelny

the reason being that if a servitor acquiesces in a ruler's tyranny, he shares in it.61
Although this may resonate with modem ethical views, it should not be forgotten that
the model of rulership presented in this work is that of an absolute ruler whose
authority is sanctioned by God and placed on a par with the prophetic mission.

Conclusion

While the works of political advice from the pre-Mongol period drew on the ancient
Iranian tradition of political wisdom literature, which had been set into an Islamic
framework, the post-Mongol mirrors for princes were based on Aristotelian concepts
of state and society, as these had been articulated by Tusi in his influential Akhlaq-i
Ndsird. This is not to say that the Akhlaq-i Muhsint represents a sophisticated
philosophical elaboration of Tusi's ideas; rather, it offers a succint summary of such
key Nasirean concepts as mutual aid (mu ciivanat), justice (cadjlat), and the coercive
capacity of the ruler (siyaisat). As for the ethical qualities that were regarded as
desirable in a medieval Islamic ruler, these too are illustrated not by philosophical
arguments, but rather by anecdotes, prophetic traditions, poetic citations, and
sententious maxims that were as entertaining as they were instructive.62
It was thus the compilative nature of the work and its highly accessible manner of
presentation, rather than the originality of its contents-characteristics it shared with
other works of Kashifi-that ensured the subsequent popularity of the Akhlaq-i
Muhsini, as attested by the large number of manuscript copies held in various libraries
throughout the world.63 Interestingly enough, the work appears to have been
appreciated far less in the Iranian milieu of its provenance than in Persianate Central
Asia which continued Timurid cultural traditions after the Safavid takeover of

61. AM, 202.

62. For the prominence Kashifi accorded storytelling and entertainment in his didactic
philosophy, see the article by Kristin Sands in this volume, 475ff.
63. I cannot possibly do justice here to a complete description of these. Suffice it to say that
some of the oldest and most beautiful copies, besides the abovementioned Tashkent, Paris, and
Toronto Mss., are those in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Diez A. 40.77 (dated 908/1503)-for a
description see Pertsch, Verzeichniss, 309, no. 276; in St. Petersburg, Russian National Library,
Dorn 262 (sixteenth-century, a luxury copy, possibly copied in Bukhara)-for a description see
[B. Dorn], Catalogue des manuscrits et xylographes orientaux de la Bibliothe?que Imperiale
Publique de St. Petersbourg (St. Petersburg, 1852), 257, and [G. I. Kostygoval, Persidskie i
tadzhikskie rukopisi Gosudarstvennoi Publichnoi Biblioteki imeni M. E. Saltykova-Shchedrina:
Alfavitnyi katalog (Leningrad, 1988), 1: 11, no. 26; in Bankipore, Oriental Public Library, no.
944 (sixteenth-century, described as an "exceedingly valuable copy")-see Maulavi Abdul
Muqtadir, Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in the Oriental Public Library at
Bankipore, vol. 9 (Persian Mss.) (Calcutta-Patna, 1925), 196; and in Mashhad, Kitabkhanah-i
Astan-i Quds-i Razavi, Na3ini 3502 (dated 946/1539)-see Fihrist-i Kitabkhanah-i Astdn-i
Quds-i Razavt (Mashhad, 1344/1966), 6: 381, no. 80; also copies in Tehran, Istanbul, London,
Oxford, Cambridge, and even Harvard University (Houghton Library) and McGill University
(Blacker Wood Library).

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 AkhlWq-i Muhsinr 613

Khurasan, 64 or in the Persian cultural context of the Mughal empire where it exerted a
profound impact on the development of Indo-Persian mirrors. 65This was undoubtedly
due in large part to the Shicite bias of the early Safavids, who would not have
appreciated the dedication to the Sunni Timurid ruler, Sultan-Husayn Bayqara, whose
capital they had conquered in 1510, although later Safavid rulers do not seem to have
had any reservations about patronizing lavish copies of the work.66 By the nineteenth
century, the Akhliiq-i Muhsinr had become one of the most pogular Persian books in
Muslim India, being reprinted in numerous lithograph editions. Even the British, for
whom the work served as one of the textbooks in the training of civil servants in the
Indian administration, appear to have found truth in Kashifi's own characterization of
the Akhlaq-i Muhsint as "containing the secrets of wisdom (asrar-i hikmat) and
comprising verities regarding the conduct of men of state (Qaq&'iq-i atviar-i ahl-i
dawlat)."

64. See my "Art and Politics in Early 16th Century Central Asia," Central Asiatic Journal
27 (1983): 121-48.

65. A fact that seems to have been ignored by recent scholarship on the topic-see Darling,
"'Do Justice,"' who does not even mention the Akhlaq-i Muhsint in her survey; also the
comments of Sajida Sultana Alvi, ed. and trans., Advice on the Art of Governance: Maucizah-i
Jahaingirr of Muhammad Baqir Najm-i SCtnt: An Indo-Islamic Mirrorfor Princes (Albany, 1989),
28. But see, for example, Muhammad Baqir's comparison of political power (saltanat) to a
sapling, and siyasat to irrigation water (46, and Per. text, 148), which is taken directly from the
Akhliaq-i Muhsint-see p. 608 above.

66. Noteworthy is the copy made for the royal library of Shah cAbbas II (between
1642-66)-Ms., Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Suppl. persan 1959. For a description, see
Francis Richard, Splendeurs persanes: Manuscrits du XIle au XVIIe si&cle (Paris, 1997), 222;
and the copy made around the same time by the calligrapher, CAbd al-cAziz-see Petrosyan,
Pages of Perfection, 252-53, no. 46. Both copies were illustrated with miniature paintings.

67. Many lithograph editions of the work were published by the well-known Nawal Kishor
press in Lucknow (also Cawnpore), the earliest being Lucknow 1876; as stated in n. 4 above, I
have utilized the twenty-second edition published by this press. I am grateful to Mohamad
Tavakoli-Targhi for making available to me his extensive collection of lithographs of the work,
and for sharing with me his knowledge about this press.

68. AM, 232. For the many English translations of the work done in India during the
nineteenth century for use in the East India Company's colleges, see Edward Edwards, A
Catalogue of the Persian Printed Books in the British Museum (London, 1922), 273-74; in
particular the translation done by two translators of the chief court of Punjab, Thomas George
and Lala Thakar Das Kapur, A Complete and Literal Translation of Akhlak-i-Mohsani with
Glossary (Lahore: Caxton Printing Works, 1896), which was intended for "students preparing
for the Intermediate Examination of the Punjab University." For the use of Kashifi's Anva1r-i
Suhaylt in the same capacity, see the article by Christine van Ruymbeke in this volume, 574.

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614 Subtelny

Fig. 1. Husayn Vaciz-i Kashifi, Akhlaq-i Muhsin-, Ms., Tashkent, Institute of

Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, no.
211 6/I. fols. 2b-3a. Double-page frontispiece.

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