The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c5.27

c5.27

Among works throwing light in the administrative practices, very few treatises belong to this period. But Muslim governmental institutions, methods and notions have a continuity whose full comprehension can only proceed from a study of such works as al-Mawardi's *Ahkamus-Sultaniyyah*—a tenth century treatise on Abbaside state-craft, and the *Siyasat Namah*, (discourses on the art of government and politics) by the prime minister of the Seljuq king, Malikshah, named Nizamul Mulk of Tus. Books on Muslim jurisprudence like the *Wiqayah*, also have a bearing on the subject, for all Muslim legal institutions and practices have a basic uniformity. Of those written specifically in our period in India, the *Adabul Harb* and the *Fatawa-i-Jahandari* have already been mentioned. The *Fiqh Firozshahi*, originally compiled by one Yaqub but revised and enlarged by an anonymous author and dedicated to Firuz Tughluq, is of considerable interest as it embodies, like the *Fatawa-i-Alamgiri*, current legal practices which are not always found to be in conformity with the standard works of jurisprudence; it is thus a key to the understanding of the extent to which state practices were being secularised. Of no inconsiderable use, though not strictly contemporary, are al-Qalqashandi's *Subhul-A'sha*, an encyclopaedic description of the world, and Shihabuddin Abbas's *Masalikul-Absar*, both compiled early in the 14th century, wherein is found valuable account of Delhi administration.