History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c14.s1.23

c14.s1.23

The *Tārīkh-al-Khulfā* of Suyūtī, though it cannot be treated as an original work, is an excellent summary of the principal events of the reigns of the Khalifahs. Suyūtī is not merely a chronicler of political events. He sketches vividly the fashions and manners which prevailed at the courts of Khalifahs and in this respect he is superior to Abul Fedā. Like Abul Fedā he consulted copiously the leading authorities on the subject and he mentions twelve works which he utilised in preparing his history. It would be unfair to judge Suyūtī's history by the canons of modern criticism. He lived at a time when law and theology were exclusively studied by Muslim students and hence his work is saturated with the influence of traditional learning. Suyūtī makes no mention of the negotiations between the Khalifahs and Sultan Muhammad Tughluq which are described in Barani's *Tārīkh-i-Firuz Shāhi*. But his account of the Khalifahs Al-Mustakfi and Al-Hakīm and their relations with the rulers of Egypt helps us to understand the conditions of the age and the prestige of the office of Khalifah in spite of the scant regard which rulers like Nāsir paid to them. We learn from Suyūtī that the Khalifahs were powerless in the time of Sultan Nāsir and his immediate successors. Al-Mustakfi was imprisoned by Nāsir and banished from the Capital. That Muhammad Tughluq should have offered submission to these powerless pontiffs proves clearly the hold of the traditional idea upon his mind.