Medieval Middle Eastern scholars Ibn al-Muqaffa', al-Farabi, Kay Ka'us, Niz&dotbelow;am al-Mulk, and Ibn Khaldun had something in common. Though their voices emerged from vastly different circumstances, they were all able to express their perspectives on political subjects (such as how rulers ought to think, act and organize society) by interpreting stories, philosophies and sayings from contexts that preceded their own. In this dissertation, the term "speaking through the voice of another" refers to the rhetorical technique of interpreting and re-articulating a story, philosophy or saying to effect political action. I suggest, however, that the particular kind of work (e.g., literary, philosophical, etc.) that each scholar used may have allowed him to achieve a particular type of political action. I therefore look at three different kinds of texts (fables [amthal], philosophy [falsafa], and wisdom literature [h&dotbelow;ikma ]) to observe what forms of political action were enabled by their interpretation and redeployment.;First, I observe that Ibn al-Muqaffa' was able to articulate his genuine views on how princes ought to behave and order society through his translation of fables from middle Persian (Pahlavi) into Arabic. I suggest that these translations allowed Ibn al-Muqaffa' to speak frankly with elites at the 'Abbasid court (750-1258/132-758) and to introduce Persian political ideals in his own environment. Second, I present al-Farabi, who interpreted philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle from Greek into Arabic, rendering their contents suitable for an Islamic context. I focus on the final two chapters of his work Views of the Inhabitants of the Perfect State (Mabadi' ara' ahl al-madininat al-fad&dotbelow;ilah), in which al-Farabi invokes ancient Greek philosophical views to make an argument relevant to his contemporaries. Third, I address a single saying that Kay Ka'us, Niz&dotbelow;am al-Mulk, and Ibn Khaldun included in their works. This saying, known as "the circle of justice," is attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle (d. 322 BC) 1 and to the ancient Persian king Ardashir I (d. 241 CE). It is found in works of wisdom literature (or h&dotbelow;ikma), collections of saying about politics and ethics from ancient Indian, Greek, Persian and Pre-Islamic contexts. I suggest that invoking this saying enabled these speakers to legitimize their political agendas, rendering them familiar and consistent with a timeless image of justice. I argue also that the recitation of this saying connects these speakers with important conversations on justice from earlier cultural traditions (e.g., ancient Greek and Persian) that are integral to our study of the history of medieval Middle Eastern political thought.;In this dissertation, I focus on particular issues of language and politics to trace a new methodology for thinking about the history of Middle Eastern political thought. I hope that by focusing on rhetorical practices that distinct scholars used, I offer a new way of comparing scholars in different contexts, one that attends to commonalities that speakers share and the diverse forms of political action that arise from the use of common rhetorical practices.;1For each person mentioned in this project, I indicate the year of their death in the western calendar followed by that year in the Islamic calendar. For those who died before the onset of the Islamic calendar, I will indicate the year of their death in the western calendar only.
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