"A just ruler should be to his people what the rain is to the thirsty plants, or even better, for the rain lasts for a while, while the blessings of justice are timeless," words of wisdom said by Abu Bakr Muḥammad Ibn Al Walid Al Ṭurṭushi, who was born in Tortosa city 1059, northwestern Spain, at a time when Al Andalus had become increasingly fragmented and was divided into various Taifa kingdoms. Al Ṭurṭushi is one of the most important Hispano-Muslim political philosophers of the twelfth century. Since he is largely unknown, a brief is necessary about him to contextualize the extraordinary accomplishment which is his magnum opus: Kitab Siraj Al Muluk, one of the most influential works of Islamic political theory to be produced in the medieval Islamic world. Al Ṭurṭushi, first, traveled to Zaragoza (Ar: Saraqusta) where he became a student under Abu Al Walīd Al Baji, a famous scholar and poet. While in Spain, he also familiarized himself with the philosophical and political treatises of the Andalusian polymath, Ibn Hazm (d. 1064). Around 1084, Al Ṭurṭushi set out to the central Islamic lands, making the pilgrimage to Mecca, before traveling to Basra and Baghdad. He then made a brief sojourn in Damascus and Jerusalem before finally settling in Alexandria where he taught at a madrasa. Al Ṭurṭushi was a leading jurist of the Maliki school who had studied with some of the most preeminent scholars of jurisprudence and legal theory. By the time he arrived in Egypt, he had become a major authority in his own right. Among his students, were Qaḍi Abu Bakr Ibn ‘Arabi, Abu Bakr Al Ghassani, Abu Bakr Muḥammad Ibn Al Ḥusayn Al Mayurqi, Abu Ṭahir Ṣadr Al Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Al Silafi Al Iṣbahani, and dozens of others who would all go on to become major jurists and theologians in their own right. Al-Ṭurṭushi was renowned for his asceticism and piety as well, which attracted the admiration of many of his students. The famous Andalusi scholar, Abu Al Qasim Ibn Bashkuwal (d. 1183) described Al Ṭurṭushi as "one of the masters of knowledge, he was a great ascetic scholar, who was committed to his religious obligations and distanced himself from the temptations of the world who was satisfied with the blessings which God had bestowed upon him." When al-Ṭurṭushi arrived in Egypt, it was ruled by the Fatimid dynasty and Al Afdal Shahinshah Ibn Badr Al Jamali (d. 1121) was the vizier. His time in Cairo allowed him to reflect on political theory and philosophy, formulating his reflections into a masterpiece called Siraj Al Muluk (The Lamp of Kings), which he dedicated to the new Fatimid vizier, Al Ma'mun Al Bata'ahi, hoping that it would guide him to the good of his people. The Counselor of the Princes Siraj Al Muluk was well received not only by the vizier, but also by a number of scholars and intellectuals over the centuries that followed. In his Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun (died 1406) praised his pioneering work and later gave Al Ṭurṭushi the title of ‘Counselor of the Princes'. Apart from sharing his own views on kingship and statecraft, Al Ṭurṭushi lists hundreds of anecdotes and reflections by other jurists and thinkers that presented countless examples of a just ruler, on one hand, and tyrannical rulers on the other. He utilizes Islamic precepts of kingship and justice—as enshrined in the Qur'an, the words of the Prophet and the example of the rightly-guided caliphs—in addition to the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosophers. He also analyzed different kingdoms, both historical and contemporary. He did not limit his enquiry to the Islamic world, but also drew examples from the Roman Empire, Byzantium, the Sassanid Persians, China, India, and even the northern Spanish Christian kingdoms of Asturias and Navarre. The diversity of his examples as well as his willingness to draw equal inspiration from Islamic as well as pre-Islamic sources of wisdom testifies to the monumental and unique nature of the work. In addition to his scholarly activities in Egypt, Al Ṭurṭushi was also significantly involved in political developments back in his homeland of Al Andalus. He was a major supporter of the efforts of the Almoravid Emir Yūsuf ibn Tashfīn to take over Al Andalus and extinguish the Taifa kingdoms, which would take place in 1090. Al Ṭurṭushi issued an important fatwa to legitimize this Almoravid conquest of al-Andalus, a development which he believed was necessary to ensure the survival of Islamic Spain in the face of a militant northern Christian drive to conquer the Iberian peninsula. Interestingly, it happened that one of Al Ṭurṭushi's students later founded a powerful Berber dynasty that would depose the Almoravids. His name was Muhammad ibn Tumart (died 1130), the founder of the Almohad dynasty. Al Ṭurṭushi died in Alexandria in 1126. While he may not be as famous as some other Andalusi saints and scholars such as Muḥyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabi (died 1240) from Murica or Abu Isḥaq Al Shatibi (died 1388) from Xativa, his book Siraj Al Muluk would inspire generations of writers and leaders to come, serving as an early manual of rule based on morality and justice, and becoming a masterpiece of Islamic political philosophy.
