The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c17.22

c17.22

cases in collaboration with the amir-i-dad. Minhaj-i-Siraj who held the office on three occasions, was also the head of the ecclesiastical department and was generally known by this latter office namely, the sadr-i-jahan¹, which seems to have always been held thereafter by the qaziul-quzat². The two offices, however, were kept separate, and Minhaj always mentions them separately³. The qaziul-quzat only supervised and controlled the lower judges in the provinces and also heard appeals; as an appellate judge he probably sat with the king. No detail of any case decided by him has however come down to us; it is perhaps reasonable to suppost that he was assisted by a mufti (legal interpreter). A later account ascribes to Minhaj the legalisation of Sima (religious music) to which objection was raised by the orthodox ulema⁴. This, however, must have been done in his capacity as the sadrus-sudur. If we could argue back from the instances of Khalji and Tughluq periods⁵, the chief qazi would also appear to be the Sultan's legal advisor in all matters of the Shariah, both religous and secular. In addition to the post of the qaziul-quzat and the sadrus-sudur, Minhaj also held the post of chief khatib and was for sometime, the qazi of Gwalior⁶.