University of Isfahan Literary Arts 20088027 18 1 2026 03 21 Identification and Analysis of the Secondary Meanings of the Imperative Verb in Siyasat-nameh of Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi Identification and Analysis of the Secondary Meanings of the Imperative Verb in Siyasat-nameh of Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi 133 150 30097 10.22108/liar.2025.146187.2490 FA Mohammad Sadegh Basiri Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanity, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran 0000-0002-5566-0220 Najme Hosseini Sarvari Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran Reihane Balooch PhD Student, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanity, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman. Iran Journal Article 2025 08 03 Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi presented his political thought in Siyasat-nameh through a preface and a series of didactic anecdotes. This work has profound literary, historical, and political layers. The present study focuses on how the secondary meanings of the imperative verbs function in the prose of Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk. In Siyasat-nameh, the imperative is the most important part of performative (inshaʾi) sentences. Because of the didactic nature of the book, the author has most frequently used the imperative in its secondary sense of guidance and instruction. Since the text was written for kings and state officials, a close examination of Nizam ul-Mulk’s use of secondary meanings of imperative sentences not only reveals some of the reasons for the book’s success and durability but also provides a clearer insight into his political thought. Based on the findings, the highest frequency of secondary meanings of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh belongs to encouragement (targhib) and guidance (irshad), and the lowest frequency belongs to equation (taṣwiya). The results also show that Nizam ul-Mulk, in some passages—especially in the preface parts of the chapters—has expressed imperative content in declarative form out of respect for the addressee (the king). Keywords: Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi; Siyasat-nameh; Secondary Meanings of the Imperative Verb. Introduction Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk is the most important theorist of political thought in the Islamic period, and his Siyasat-nameh is among the key writings of the Iranian-Islamic tradition of political advice. Its fundamental organizing idea is the notion of the ideal kingship (Ṭabaṭabaʾi, 1999, pp. 142–143). His views are the outcome of “the experience he collected over long years of vizierate, which he gathered in Siyasat-nameh, a work that today is counted among the finest Persian prose texts” (Ṣafa, 1984, p. 36). Among the political Andarz-namas that had been written in Iran before and after Islam, Siyasat-nameh holds a special position. The aim of the present study is to analyze the rhetorical aspect of imperative sentences in Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk’s Siyasat-nameh. Attention to this aspect of the secondary meanings of imperatives is necessary because of the primary audience of the work—Sultan Malikshah Seljuq—and, as the author himself states, “all kings and holders of authority” who “cannot dispense with having and knowing this book” (cf. Niẓam al-Mulk, 1965, p. 2). To this day, and to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no independent research has been conducted specifically on the secondary meanings of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh. Materials and Methods This study is fundamental in nature. The data collection procedure consisted of identifying all imperative sentences in Siyasat-nameh, classifying them according to their secondary rhetorical purposes, and then analyzing the data. Finally, the findings were presented statistically and in the form of charts. Research Findings In this study, all imperative sentences in Khwaja Niẓam al-Mulk’s Siyasat-nameh were identified and classified on the basis of their secondary purposes. The aim, besides analyzing the different secondary meanings of the imperative, was to provide a frequency-based account of how imperative sentences with secondary meanings are used in the work. Such an investigation can help explain one of the reasons for the work’s success and longevity, and can also shed light on some linguistic features of the book and on Niẓam al-Mulk’s artistry in composing one of the finest specimens of Persian prose. The aim of the current study is the examination of the secondary meanings of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh by Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi. For this purpose, all imperative sentences in the text were identified, analyzed, and classified. The findings show that the most frequent secondary meaning of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh is encouragement, guidance, and instruction, which is fully consistent with the didactic nature of the book. In total, 310 imperatives were used with the purpose of encouragement, and 240 imperatives with the secondary purpose of guidance and instruction. In addition, the text contains 61 imperatives in the sense of supplication (duʿa), 57 imperatives in the sense of desire (tamanni), 81 imperatives in the sense of entreaty (iltimas), 43 in the sense of seeking compassion (istirḥam), 56 in the sense of threatening, 6 imperatives with the secondary purpose of equating (taṣwiya), 73 imperatives in the sense of admonition, 36 in the sense of blame, and 11 imperatives in the sense of mockery. Discussion of Results and Conclusions Considering the results of the present study, because Nizam ul-Mulk wrote the book for Malikshah and, more generally, for kings and rulers, his status as author and vizier is hierarchically lower than that of his addressee (the king). For this reason, in the prefaces to the chapters, he often conveys an imperative meaning through a declarative structure and avoids issuing a direct imperative to the sultan. Consequently, the frequency of compound metaphorical usage (i.e., using a declarative form for an imperative intent) is high in his prose. He then expands and develops these imperative notions of the preface in the form of anecdotes. Taken as a whole, Siyasat-nameh is a work of didactic literature, and therefore, in most cases, the imperative clauses are employed in the secondary sense of guidance and instruction, which is one of the most important secondary meanings of the imperative. Overall, Nizam ul-Mulk uses the imperative in the book in two main ways: first, in the prefaces to the chapters, indirectly and in metaphorical/declarative form for the purpose of practical instruction to the king; and second, within the internal discourse of the anecdotes, where he uses the imperative with a variety of rhetorical purposes. Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi presented his political thought in Siyasat-nameh through a preface and a series of didactic anecdotes. This work has profound literary, historical, and political layers. The present study focuses on how the secondary meanings of the imperative verbs function in the prose of Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk. In Siyasat-nameh, the imperative is the most important part of performative (inshaʾi) sentences. Because of the didactic nature of the book, the author has most frequently used the imperative in its secondary sense of guidance and instruction. Since the text was written for kings and state officials, a close examination of Nizam ul-Mulk’s use of secondary meanings of imperative sentences not only reveals some of the reasons for the book’s success and durability but also provides a clearer insight into his political thought. Based on the findings, the highest frequency of secondary meanings of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh belongs to encouragement (targhib) and guidance (irshad), and the lowest frequency belongs to equation (taṣwiya). The results also show that Nizam ul-Mulk, in some passages—especially in the preface parts of the chapters—has expressed imperative content in declarative form out of respect for the addressee (the king). Keywords: Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi; Siyasat-nameh; Secondary Meanings of the Imperative Verb. Introduction Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk is the most important theorist of political thought in the Islamic period, and his Siyasat-nameh is among the key writings of the Iranian-Islamic tradition of political advice. Its fundamental organizing idea is the notion of the ideal kingship (Ṭabaṭabaʾi, 1999, pp. 142–143). His views are the outcome of “the experience he collected over long years of vizierate, which he gathered in Siyasat-nameh, a work that today is counted among the finest Persian prose texts” (Ṣafa, 1984, p. 36). Among the political Andarz-namas that had been written in Iran before and after Islam, Siyasat-nameh holds a special position. The aim of the present study is to analyze the rhetorical aspect of imperative sentences in Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk’s Siyasat-nameh. Attention to this aspect of the secondary meanings of imperatives is necessary because of the primary audience of the work—Sultan Malikshah Seljuq—and, as the author himself states, “all kings and holders of authority” who “cannot dispense with having and knowing this book” (cf. Niẓam al-Mulk, 1965, p. 2). To this day, and to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no independent research has been conducted specifically on the secondary meanings of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh. Materials and Methods This study is fundamental in nature. The data collection procedure consisted of identifying all imperative sentences in Siyasat-nameh, classifying them according to their secondary rhetorical purposes, and then analyzing the data. Finally, the findings were presented statistically and in the form of charts. Research Findings In this study, all imperative sentences in Khwaja Niẓam al-Mulk’s Siyasat-nameh were identified and classified on the basis of their secondary purposes. The aim, besides analyzing the different secondary meanings of the imperative, was to provide a frequency-based account of how imperative sentences with secondary meanings are used in the work. Such an investigation can help explain one of the reasons for the work’s success and longevity, and can also shed light on some linguistic features of the book and on Niẓam al-Mulk’s artistry in composing one of the finest specimens of Persian prose. The aim of the current study is the examination of the secondary meanings of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh by Khawaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi. For this purpose, all imperative sentences in the text were identified, analyzed, and classified. The findings show that the most frequent secondary meaning of the imperative in Siyasat-nameh is encouragement, guidance, and instruction, which is fully consistent with the didactic nature of the book. In total, 310 imperatives were used with the purpose of encouragement, and 240 imperatives with the secondary purpose of guidance and instruction. In addition, the text contains 61 imperatives in the sense of supplication (duʿa), 57 imperatives in the sense of desire (tamanni), 81 imperatives in the sense of entreaty (iltimas), 43 in the sense of seeking compassion (istirḥam), 56 in the sense of threatening, 6 imperatives with the secondary purpose of equating (taṣwiya), 73 imperatives in the sense of admonition, 36 in the sense of blame, and 11 imperatives in the sense of mockery. Discussion of Results and Conclusions Considering the results of the present study, because Nizam ul-Mulk wrote the book for Malikshah and, more generally, for kings and rulers, his status as author and vizier is hierarchically lower than that of his addressee (the king). For this reason, in the prefaces to the chapters, he often conveys an imperative meaning through a declarative structure and avoids issuing a direct imperative to the sultan. Consequently, the frequency of compound metaphorical usage (i.e., using a declarative form for an imperative intent) is high in his prose. He then expands and develops these imperative notions of the preface in the form of anecdotes. Taken as a whole, Siyasat-nameh is a work of didactic literature, and therefore, in most cases, the imperative clauses are employed in the secondary sense of guidance and instruction, which is one of the most important secondary meanings of the imperative. Overall, Nizam ul-Mulk uses the imperative in the book in two main ways: first, in the prefaces to the chapters, indirectly and in metaphorical/declarative form for the purpose of practical instruction to the king; and second, within the internal discourse of the anecdotes, where he uses the imperative with a variety of rhetorical purposes.

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