Miskawayh was a philosopher of ethics, historian and statesman. He also had a great knowledge of Muslim sacred texts, the Quran and the Prophet's teachings. He was not simply randomly drawn to all these, though. Since in his early youth he served as an advisor to several Muslim viziers and rulers, he noted that the final bliss of mankind is guaranteed by social life, and that society is the fate of every person who wants overall prosperity, both spiritual and material. That is why he analyzed various models of achieving bliss in social life. As he was an Islamic thinker his attention was drawn to religion, but not exclusively within the frame of jurisprudence, although he considered it mandatory also. The focus of his social thought was on ethics, which he considered an integral part of religion. However, since he thought that realization of all ethical principles in society can be guaranteed only when power is in the hands of a just and legitimate political structure, he seriously engaged in an analysis of the essence of power and politics in society. On the other hand, in order to show successful and unsuccessful examples of implementation of proper political models in history, he looked in detail at almost all historical periods from the beginning of mankind until the moment he left public life. The history of Islamic social thought remembers him most for his attempt to link the ancient Greek views on ethics to the moral principles he found in Islam.