The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c14.77

v4.c14.77

Islām Shāh had no share of the great qualities of his father, who stood alone among the Afghāns, while the son had all the faults attributed to them. He was suspicious, cruel, vindictive and narrow-minded, unable to “think imperially” and dominated by clan or family feeling. His treatment of his nobles recalls the folly of another Afghān ruler, Ibrāhīm Lodī, but his cruelty exceeded Ibrāhīm’s. During his father’s life he had been closely associated with the greatest of his nobles, Khavāss Khān, whose services, eclipsing those of the prince, aroused his jealousy, and whose experience of the prince’s character decided him to adopt the cause of his elder brother, ‘Ādil Khān. Even after ‘Ādil Khān’s disappearance Islām Shāh’s suspicions of his nobles remained alive, and it was his treatment of them that caused the Niyāzīs to rebel, and alienated them from his house. He was unable, in spite of his cruelty, to control the tribal chieftains, and the clan feuds which Sher Shāh had suppressed broke out afresh and made it clear that empire was not for the Afghāns.