The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c27.90

v3.c27.90

Fīrūz holds a high place among the princes of his house. His character at the time when he ascended the throne has been described, and it was not until he had reigned for some years that the wise, spirited, and vigorous king became a jaded and feeble voluptuary. He was a sincere, but not a rigid Muslim, and though nominally an orthodox Sunni of the Hanafite school, he drank wine, while confessing the sinfulness of his indulgence, and availed himself of the licence, admitted by theologians of the laxer Mālikī school, and by the Shiahs, of temporary marriage. In his harem were women of many nations, with each of whom he is said to have been able to converse fluently and easily in her own language. His curiosity regarding the marriage law of Islam was enlightened on one occasion by a woman taken in adultery, who pleaded with irrefutable logic, that as that law allowed a man four wives her simplicity was to be pardoned for believing that it allowed a woman four husbands. Her impudent wit saved her.