The heirs of the Nizamiyyah: Persian patience, American hubris

In the 11th century, the Persian statesman Nizam al-Mulk (Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi, born in Khurasan in 1018) built an empire not with swords alone, but with schools.   He served as grand Vizier for two famous Seljuk sultans: Alp Arslan, and Malik Shah I from 1063-1092. The Nizamiyyah academies produced generations of administrators trained in law, ethics, accounting, and statecraft.  A thousand years later, the civilization that inherited that tradition- Iran- still carries the DNA of bureaucratic rigor and philosophical depth. Meanwhile, the United States, a young empire now in visible decline, has elevated a man with no respect for learning, no moral compass, and with a famously short attention span. The contrast is not merely political, it […]