Indian Muslims: Who Are They c6.s5.4

c6.s5.4

The Deccan was also full of foreign Muslims. Most of Bahman Shahs nobles were foreigners. His Afghan minister was succeeded by a Persian from Shiraz and he again by a native of Basrah.⁴⁶ Ahmads son Alauddin also surrounded himself with foreigners. No wonder that in the Bahmani kingdom two parties sprang up - Foreigners (better termad as Afaqis) and Deccanis.⁴⁷ Both were at daggers drawn for power and in politics. Humayun (1458-61) bestowed his favours upon the Foreign faction. His renowned minister Mahmud Gawan was a foreigner, who kept an army of 20,000 men.⁴⁸ Another Malik-ul-Tujjar, the governor of Daulatabad, had with him 7,000 foreign horse.⁴⁹ Sultan Ahmad had a special corps of 3,000 archers from Iraq, Khurasan Transoxiana, Turkey and Arabia.⁵⁰