The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c19.23

c19.23

Muslim society in the 13th century-India therefore predominantly belonged to the Sunni persuasion. With its rigid simplicity Sunni Islam also suited the Turkish mind which showed a singular ineptitude for the esoteric religion of the Shiah. With the theologians imported from abroad and also trained in India, the Memelukes set about to preserve the orthodoxy of their own faith and that of their compeers. The Mongols drove a large section of Iranian Muslims; whatever their original predilections might have been, they, exhibited a remarkable conformity in India. The Shansabanis belonged to the Shafei school of Muslim law², but the Memelukes held to the system of Abu Hanifa.