The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c19.4

c19.4

Two broad divisions of Muslim society seem to have persisted from the very beginning. This was the ahl-i-saif and the ahl-i-qalam, men of the sword and men of the pen, the latter, judging from the recorded types, being almost wholly confined, in the first one or two generations, to non-Turkish foreigners. From them were drawn recruits for the clerical services, the *katib*, the *dabir*, the *wazir*. In the lower ranks of the revenue staff should be placed the native lettered class, both Hindu and Muslim. By far the most influential section of the *ahl-i-qalam* were of course the ecclesiastics—theologians and litterateurs—who, along with the *umara*, formed the first two estates of Muslim society. Although not so strictly organised as the Christian episcopacy they were yet, informally, a well-knit group, intensely conscious of their importance and jealous of their high privileges. They manned the judicial and ecclesiastical services and wherever there was a mosque,—and every Muslim locality must have one—, the *imam*, the *khatib*, the *muhtasib* and the *mufti* represented an interest which recieved state-recognition. They necessarily controlled the educational establishments and thus put a premium on unorthodox thought and learning calculated to undermine their positions. The authority of the *sadrus-sudur* who officially presided over this class, thus embraced all the lettered Muslims except the group known as the *mashaikh*, the mystic saints whose independence and other-worldliness could never suit the literal-minded *ulema*. Between the two sections there was little mutual admiration; the *ulema's* unconcealed anxiety to please the secular authority often brought forth bitter condemnation from the saints. Because of their popular appeal the latter, however, demanded attention; the official class, including even the king, were obliged to treat them with due deference. Firoz Khalji's reign affords an instance, in the incident of the mystic Sidi Maula, of how these men could constitute polical danger, for their appeal transcended racial and credal barriers.