Ali ibn Ishak, also known as Abu'l Hasan, was a Persian dehqan[1] who served as the financial minister of the Ghaznavids.[2] He was a native of small village named Radkan, near Tus, in Iran. When the Seljuq Turks conquered Khorasan in 1040, Ali fled to Ghazni, where his son Nizam al-Mulk was working within the government. Nizam would later serve the Seljuqs, where he became the vizier of the Empire and almost held near absolute power over 20 years.[3] Nothing more is known about the life of Ali.