The Concepts of Statehood and the Ideal Ruler in the Golden Horde Literature: The Husraw and Shirin of Qutb

Abstract

This paper studies the concepts of statehood, governance and the ideal ruler in the Golden Horde literature through a synthesis of political thought, philosophy, religious ethics and poetry presented in a poem by Qutb named Husraw and Shirin (written in 1342). The first part of the paper provides an overview of the Golden Horde civilization and suggests that its intellectual culture accumulated the all-inclusive scholarly, literary and scientific achievements of that time with the most advanced scholarly and educational centers. The following parts provide a general idea about Qutb and his Husraw and Shirin, including its plot and main ideas. The last part analyses the concepts of statehood and an ideal ruler that are depicted in the poem within the framework of governance in Islam.  The paper finds that, by referring to a famous love story between Husraw and Shirin, Qutb was able to address the needs of his era and society, and created an original composition through an intense creative processing of literary material that was available to him. Given the fact that the Golden Horde is among the less studied periods of Islamic history and intellectual thought, this paper is expected to contribute to the field positively. Keywords: Golden Horde, Governance in Islam, Husraw and Shirin, Justice, Qutb, The concept of ideal ruler in Islam, Statehood, Turkic literature, Women as rulers