Islamic Monarchy

These developments were also shaped by Turko-Mongol ideas of kingship, which arrived with nomadic tribes from the central and east Asian steppe in the eleventh century. For Turkic and Mongol nomads, a ruler (Turk., bey, beg; Turk. and Mongolian, khan) was a charismatic military leader who exercised a highly personal style of rule. Often merely a first among equals, he was directly responsible to his own followers and was expected to settle their disputes, lead them militarily, and reward them for their loyalty through the distribution of spoils and wealth. Although nomadic khans were often members of noble families, their positions depended not only on their lineage but also on their own merits.

The more successful khans believed that their charisma had a divine origin, which was often identified with the spirit or spirits of the Enduring Sky, or God (Mongolian, Tenggeri; Turk., Tanri). Such divine favor was expressed through a special good fortune (Mongolian, su; Turk., kut; Pers., bakht or farr), which was bestowed on particular rulers by Divine Will and which was demonstrated through military victories. Divinely favored rulers were thought to possess special religious or shamanistic powers. An emphasis on nomadic law (Turk., töre, türe; Mongolian, yasagh (yasa); Ar. to Ottoman Turk., kanun) also formed part of nomadic ideals of rulership, since a nomadic khan was expected to uphold the law. These ideas first entered the Islamic world when the Sunni Muslim confederation of Seljuk Turks conquered Khorasan and the Iranian plateau under the charismatic military leader Tughril Beg (d. 1063), who reached Baghdad in 1055 and established the Great Seljuk dynasty (1055–1157) under the benevolent eye of a powerless Abbasid caliph. (Nizam al-Mulk and al-Ghazali both wrote under Seljuk rule.)