History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.141

c12.141

The Sultan was in many respects far in advance of his age. At a time when no government would have tolerated suits against itself by its subjects, Muhammad permitted aggrieved persons to bring their claims against him in law courts, and Ibn Batūtah has recorded three cases in which he saw the Sultan with his own eyes, anxiously endeavouring to meet the ends of justice. The instances cited by the Moor may be dismissed as wholly fictitious, but they go to illustrate the Sultan's impartiality, his love of justice and his desire to redress the grievances of both Hindus and Muslims.⁴⁵ Shaikh Zadah Jāmi's confinement in an iron cage and his ultimate execution related by Yahya bin Ahmad (and reproduced by Badāoni) for calling the Sultan a tyrant to his face will cause no surprise to students of mediaeval history. We might have hesitated to accept Yahya's unsupported testimony, but for the reason that the barbarous punishment inflicted by the Sultan on the Shaikh is in agreement with the tenor of his policy as reflected in the pages of Ibn Batūtah. The Sultan did not punish the Shaikh immediately. He applied to the Qazi to call upon the Shaikh to prove the charge of tyranny. When the Shaikh persisted in repeating the charge, he ordered his imprisonment and execution. The method of punishment was barbarous, but mediaeval rulers were accustomed to punish persons guilty of sedition in this fashion all over the world. The colour given to the story by later writers indicates an attempt on the part of the 'Ulama to malign the character of the Sultan against whom they had declared a revolt. The Sultan's justice made no exceptions. He punished the Shaikhs and Maulvis who broke the law, and we can easily follow Barani's statement that not a day passed when the Sultan did not shed innocent Muslim blood, if we bear this in mind.