The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.322

v3.c20.322

The New Muslims had been a perpetual source of trouble and anxiety during the reign. It was they who had rebelled when the army was returning from the conquest of Gujarāt, and the followers of Ākat Khān had been New Muslims. They were generally discontented, not entirely without cause. They had exchanged the cool highlands of the north for the burning plains of Hindūstān, and their change of domicile and change of faith had not been adequately rewarded. Their prince, Ulghū Khān, had been treated with distinction by Fīrūz, but he had been blinded by ‘Alā-ud-dīn, and if he was still alive was living in captivity and misery. No other Mughul appears to have attained to wealth or high place, which is not surprising, for though a few leaders may have received some veneer of civilisation the mass of the tribe was probably not far removed in habits and customs from the ignorant and filthy savages described with such warmth of feeling and language by their some-time captive, the poet Amīr Khusrav. ‘Alā-ud-dīn dismissed all New Muslims from his service. They were permitted to enter that of any noble who would employ them, but those who could not obtain or would not accept such employment were told that they might depart whither they would. Many were too proud to serve the courtiers, and remained without employment until they could surreptitiously creep back into the royal service in inferior positions and on insufficient wages. They waited in vain for signs of relentment in the king, and at length in their despair hatched a wild plot to assassinate him while he was hawking near Delhi. The plot was discovered and the vengeance taken was characteristic of ‘Alā-ud-dīn. Orders were issued that every New Muslim, wherever found, whether at Delhi or in the provinces, should be put to death, and obedience was ensured by a promise that the slayer of a New Muslim should become the owner of all that his victim had possessed. Between twenty and thirty thousand were massacred, and their wives, children, and property were appropriated by their murderers.