Malik Shah I

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Jalal ad-Dawlah Malik Shah or simply Malik Shah (d.1092) was the Seljuk sultan from 1072 to 1092.

Although he was a Turk, his name is a combination of the Arabic and Persian words for king. Following his father Alp Arslan's victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert. Likewise, he reformed the calendar with the Jalaali calendar in 1079. Malik Shah expanded Seljuk power into Syria at the expense of the Fatimids of Egypt, setting up client sultans in Edessa, Aleppo and Damascus.

There are varying reports regarding his death and that of his vizier Nizam ul-Mulk. Nizam ul-Mulk was apparently assassinated en route from Isfahan to Baghdad on the 10th of Ramadan in 1092. The mainstream literature says he was stabbed to death by a member of the Hashshashin sect near Nahavand, Persia.

Another report says Nizam was killed in secret by Malik Shah in an internal power struggle. Consequently, his murder was avenged by the vizier's loyal servants of the Nizamiyyah, by assassinating the Sultan (pg. 17 of the Siyasatnama).

According to a third account, the Sultan ordered a Sunni-Shia debate to take place in his royal court to obtain some answers. The debate ended with the Shia side convincing the Sultan and his Vizier (both of whom were followers of the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam) to voluntarily convert to the Shia faith. This aroused the rage of some extremists of the Sunni establishment, resulting in the assassination of both the Vizier and the Sultan. This account appears in a report by Mughatil ibn Bakri, a member of the staff of the Nizamiyyah, who was also the son in law of Nizam ul-Mulk.

After his death in 1092 the Seljuk empire disintegrated into smaller states, mostly antagonistic towards each other. In Anatolia he was succeeded by Kilij Arslan I, in Persia by Mahmud I and in Syria by his brother Tutush I. The disunity within the Seljuk realms allowed for the unexpected success of the First Crusade shortly afterwards, beginning in 1096.

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