History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.26

c12.26

Nothing illustrates the waning influence of the ‘Ulama more than the absence of religious persecution and conversion of non-Muslims by means of official agency during Muhammad’s reign. No contemporary writer speaks of frequent forced conversions of Hindus or the prohibition of worship in accordance with the tenets of their faith. The theocratic activities of the state were restricted within narrow bounds. The Sultan confined himself to the regulation of the religious life of the Muslims alone; he enforced the daily prayers and punished those who neglected them.⁹ Yet Barani to whom the Sultan's liberalism was nothing short of a disaster to Islam writes that he was profuse in shedding the blood of innocent believers.¹⁰ Muhammad's reign represents a struggle between philosophical rationalism and ecclesiastical dogmatism. For a triumphant vindication of the former, the age was not yet ripe and the entire policy of the Sultan was reversed after his death. Firuz's sectarianism was the orthodox answer to his predecessor's liberalism.