The Reign of the Great Saljuq Sultan Sanjar in Afghanistan (1097-1157)

FAIN: FT-55982-08

Deborah G. Tor
Tel Aviv University (Tel Aviv 46556-4635 Israel)

Abu'l-Harith Ahmad Sanjar b. Malikshah, longest-reigning sultan of the Saljuq Dynasty, was one of the seminal figures in Islamic history, and the age over which he presided constituted one of the most formative periods in the history of Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia. For over half a century, Sultan Sanjar was the most powerful figure in the Islamic world, and it was in his realm that many of the final contours of the religious, political, and social institutions of classical Islamic society took shape, with ramifications extending to the present. The history of Sanjar's reign is therefore crucial to an understanding of a key period, not only in Afghan history, but in the history of the larger Islamic world, given the uniquely dominant political and cultural role of Afghanistan at this time. It should be noted that despite the length, importance, and formative nature of Sanjar's rule, no study has ever yet been written on this subject; my proposed research will be the first.