History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c13.53

c13.53

Some punishments were doubtless disproportionate to the offences committed and some were brutally severe as was the punishment inflicted on Shaikh Shihāb-al-Din for calling the Sultan a tyrant. It was the Shaikh's persistent defiance of royal authority in spite of the kindness which the Sultan had shown him that was also to some extent responsible for the severity with which he was treated. The charge of tyranny was a serious matter in an age governed by theocratic influences, for a Muslim ruler who oppresses his subjects, forfeits his title to the allegiance of the ‘faithful.’ The Shaikh was given a chance to retract his word, but when he proved incorrigible the Sultan handed him over to the Sadr-i-Jahan and gave him an opportunity of proving the charge of tyranny which he had brought against him. Ibn Batūṭah is remarkably corroborated by the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* in this respect. The accused who probably wished to figure as a martyr in the eyes of the orthodox obstinately refused to recant and was finally beheaded.33 The Sultan had no aversion for the ‘Ulama; on the contrary he loved the society of learned men, entertained them at his table and extended his patronage to them.