Editing Alp Arslan (section)

==Physical appearance and personality==
Contemporary descriptions portray Alp Arslan as "very awe-inspiring, dominating," a "great-formed one, elegant of stature. He had long, thin whiskers, which he used to knot up when shooting arrows. And they say his arrow never went astray.... From the top button of his hat to the end of his moustaches it was two yards".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJ67QgAACAAJ|title=Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol: The Battle of Manzikert|year=2007 |page=217|isbn=9780748625734 |last1=Hillenbrand |first1=Carole }}</ref>
 
Muslim sources show Alp Arslan as fanatically pious but just. Alp Arslan was so dedicated to the [[Hanafi school]] of Islamic jurisprudence that he always kept a ''[[qadi]]'' by his side, including in battles.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leqqBgAAQBAJ | isbn=9780748631155 | title=Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol: The Battle of Manzikert | date=21 November 2007 | last1=Hillenbrand | first1=Carole }}</ref> His vizier, [[Nizam al-Mulk]], described the young sultan in his ''Book of Government'':<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJ67QgAACAAJ|title=Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol: The Battle of Manzikert|year=2007 |page=6|isbn=9780748625734 |last1=Hillenbrand |first1=Carole }}</ref>{{blockquote|He was exceedingly imperious and awe-inspiring and, because he was so earnest and fanatical in his beliefs and disapproved of the [[Shafi'i school|Shafi‘i rite]], I lived in constant fear of him.}}Some authors have doubted whether the Turks, who had adopted Islam recently, completely understood such religious distinctions. Alex Mallett writes, "Whatever the case, the fact that almost all writers have good things to say about him suggests that he treated everyone more or less equally, in religious terms."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mallett |first=A. |date=2013 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=K. |editor2-last=Krämer |editor2-first=G. |editor3-last=Matringe |editor3-first=D. |editor4-last=Nawas |editor4-first=J. |editor5-last=Stewart |editor5-first=D. J. |title=Alp Arslan |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24882 |url-access=subscription |access-date=27 February 2025 |website=Encyclopaedia of Islam Three Online |publisher=Brill|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24882 }}</ref>