The Position of Government in Beyhaghi's Viewpoint

Masoudi (Beyhaghi) History” covers the incidents of the 10-year-reign of Masoud Ghaznavi, and the stories of his downfall, the occupation of his lands, the rise of disagreements, and his murder. Along with a criticism of Masoud and his deeds in his book, Beihaghi expresses his idea of governance which considers the king as the absolute and right power, and he proposes his theory regarding government as having a religious-political foundation and being based on the divine rule of the king on earth (Zel-Allah fi-l-Arz= God’s image on earth). Here, God’s will dominates all, and the king’s deeds are aligned with destiny; the king is the agent of God’s will (ÊõÚöÒøõ ãóäú ÊóÔÇÁ æ ÊõÐöáøõ ....) , and as the representative of the Calipha accords his deeds with God’s ordains; he takes advantage of his consultants’ views, his troops, and his people's support, in order to spread the religion, especially into India. Based on an analytical method, this study is carried out to deal with Beihaghi’s view about governance and concludes that he accepted a traditional management and an Iranian-Islamic concept of Plato’s view of governance.