History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c13.86

c13.86

“The stories of the generosity and gallantry of this Prince are well known among the people as his punishments of the culprits and wrong-doers. But he is a great lover of justice and right. He follows the practices of religion with devoutness and performs the prayers himself and punishes those who neglect them.”⁴⁷ He mentions the cruel practices of the Sultan, but he does not sweep into a single line all classes of men from peasants and soldiers to Shaikhs and Sufis. He praises the devoutness of the Sultan and mentions the punishments of wrong-doers only. Badr-i-Chāch and Shihāb-al-Din also declare that the Sultan was deeply religious. We read in the Masālik that many soldiers and amirs read the fiqah and the ‘Ulama attended on him during the Ramzan and observed the fast. Instead of slaying faqirs he fed thousands of them at the expense of the state. He knew by heart the Quran and the Hidāyah, the famous treatise on jurisprudence, which embodies the principles of the sect of Abu Hanifah. He enforced the religious prayers among all classes of his subjects and severely dealt with those who neglected them. On one occasion nine men were slain for this offence, and if Ibn Batūṭah be true, this would prove rather an excess of religious zeal than want of it.⁴⁸ A catechism was prepared and those who failed to repeat the prescribed formula were punished. Men were employed to bring from the markets those who did not attend the mosque at the appointed hours of prayer, and this order was executed with such fidelity that even the grooms who stood at the gates of the Hall of Audience