Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c15.4

c15.4

After the compilation of the Quran and the Hadises, many schools of jurisprudence developed with many manuals of commentaries and interpretations on these two main source-scriptures. Named after their founders Abu Hanifa (c. 699-767), Abu Abdulla Muhammad bin Idris (c. 767-820), Ahmad bin Hanbal (c. 780-855) and Malik bin Anas (715795). and called the Hanafi, Shaafai, Hanbali and Maliki, the four famous schools of Islamic jurisprudence developed in the eighth-ninth century. In the twelfth century Shaikh Burhanuddin Ali (530-593 H/1135-1196 C.E.) of Marghinan in Transoxiana wrote the famous *Hidayah* or the Guide, a well-known work of Sunni law. It is based on the Quran, the Hadis and the four schools of Muslim Jurisprudence mentioned above. Throughout medieval India Muslim Ulema, jurisconsults and judges (Qazis) depended on these scriptures and law books for deciding cases about slaves. Besides, during Muslim rule, spreading over several centuries, numerous judgements, *Zawabits* (Regulations) and commentaries appeared concerning matters of law and were referred to as precedents. Their large numbers were bound to create confusion and sometimes lead to decisions convenient or otherwise to particular parties and situations. Emperor Aurangzeb therefore decided to consolidate the main canons of Sunni law in one book. This resulted in the coming into being of his voluminous magnum opus entitled the *Fatawa-i-Alamgiri*. Bakhtawar Khan, a nobleman of Aurangzebs court, has this to say about the *Fatawa-i-Alamgiri*. As it is a great object with this Emperor that all Muhammadans should follow the principles of the religion as expounded by the most competent law officers and the followers of the Hanafi persuasion and as these principles, in consequence of the different opinions of the *kazis* and *muftis* which have been delivered without any authority, could not be distinctly and clearly learnt, and as there was no book which embodied them all His Majesty, the protector of the faith, determined that a body of eminently learned and able men of Hindustan should take up the voluminous and the most trustworthy works which were collected in the royal library, and having made a digest of them, compose a book which might form a standard canon of the law, and afford to all an easy and available means of ascertaining the proper and authoritative interpretation. The chief conductor of this difficult undertaking was the most learned man of the time, Shaikh Nizam, and all the members of the society were handsomely paid, so that up to the present time (early years of the reign) a sum of about two hundred thousand rupees has been expended in this valuable compilation, which contains more than one hundred thousand lines. When the work, with Gods pleasure, is completed, it will be for all the world the standard exposition of the law, and render every one independent of Muhammadan doctors.³