The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c17.1

c17.1

Administration of justice is one of the king's primary functions. The chroniclers deal at great length with the Sultan's responsibilities for upholding and maintaining the *Shariah*¹, which was the basic law in a Muslim-ruled country. But it is obvious that the non-Muslim, living in the country, could not be subjected, at least in their social relations, to the Canon law. Jurists have accordingly recognised a practical distinction between what they call *tashrii* and *ghair tashrii* law². There could be little doubt that the Muslims in their social and personal affairs were guided exclusively by the *tashrii* law, but we know practically nothing about the law which was applied to the non-Muslim *zimmis*. In such matters as inheritence, sale or transfer of land, marriage etc., presumably the customary law was followed, embodying, as it did, the principles of the local, tribal or the sacred Hindu code³. The principle followed by the Delhi Sultanate, at any rate, was minimum interference with the social affairs of the *zimmi*. In matrimonial cases for instance, the jurisdiction of the Muslim *qazi* was to be exercised only when the parties asked for it; and even then, he was to recognise such practices as are regarded valid in the party’s religion¹. In crimes which constitute offence in every law and where ethics was the sole determinant, the *zimmi* probably stood in the same footing as the Muslim², though it is doubtful if the Muslim penal law was applied with the same rigour and exactitude as is enjoined by the *faqih*.