History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.23.3

c12.23.3

Muhammad rejected with unrivalled courage the orthodox formulæ and freely associated with men who applied to religion the cold test of reason, and we see the bitterness aroused by his policy in the condemnation which Barani pours upon his advisers, whom he holds responsible for his alleged aberration from the right path. He deprived the priestly class of its long-enjoyed monopoly of the administration of justice, constituted himself into the Supreme Court of Appeal and freely revised, altered and rescinded the decisions of Qazis and muftis. He imposed a strict supervision over the administration of waqf properties and cashiered the mutawalis, who were mostly Shaikhs and Maulvis for their malpractices. Taxation was not to be restricted to the four taxes—Khirāj, Zakāt, Jeziyah and Khams, because the needs of the state were many and varied and could not be met unless more money came into the treasury.⁷ The share of the faithful in the booty captured in war was after ‘Ala-al-Din’s fashion restricted to one-fifth instead of four-fifths on which the clericalists laid much stress.⁸ The ordinary law of the land from which the priestly class had so far been exempt was rigorously applied to them and the new government insisted on the principle of efficiency and justice. Such treatment was bound to give offence to the class which considered itself the repository of all religious and civil law.