A Critical Review of the Edition of Ghazali’s Nasihat al-Muluk

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 department of language and Persian literature, Faculty of literature and humanities, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran

2 department of language and Persian literature, Faculty of literature and humanities, Ferdowsi University, mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Naṣīḥat al-Mulūk is one of the few Persian works by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (d. 505 AH) and presents a subject unusually rare among his writings; thus, it has long been central to studies of his political thought. Jalāl al-Dīn Homāyī edited the text twice, first in 1315–17 Š./1936–38 on the basis of a single, recently copied and corrupt manuscript, and again in 1351 Š./1972 using seven manuscripts. Dissatisfied with his first attempt, he undertook a second edition. Yet this later edition also contains problems in both “text” and “method.” Although Homāyī’s introduction suggests that he followed a “base-manuscript approach,” he actually used an eclectic method when collating the manuscripts, and his inconsistency in applying either approach has produced ambiguities in the text.



The diversity of the manuscripts is one of the major challenges in editing this work. Because the book was originally composed in two parts, the manuscript tradition includes both one-part and two-part versions, resulting in several distinct recensions. Furthermore, no early copies close to Ghazālī’s lifetime survive.



This study examines the shortcomings of Homāyī’s second edition of Naṣīḥat al-Mulūk in three areas: “the description, evaluation, and use of manuscripts,” “editorial method,” and “textual readings.” It then draws on both the manuscripts employed by Homāyī and newly identified copies to resolve certain ambiguities and to argue for the necessity of a new critical edition of the work.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Textual Criticism of Persian Literature

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 24 January 2026

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