The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c24.s2.2

c24.s2.2

They were also required to furnish an account of their income and expenditure and to pay the residue to the central government. The *walis* and the *muqtis* were advised to protect and enforce the Muslim law, to protect the *ulema*, to arrange for the administration of justice, to enforce the decisions of the court, to keep the highways free from robbers and to encourage trade and commerce and material prosperity. Firoz Tughluq advised his son, Fateh Khan, while sending him as governor of Sindh, to protect the peasants from undue exactions and tyranny, to help the learned and the holy, and to protect the people. Inspite of these pious injunctions, the governors, in normal times, enjoyed wide powers and were like petty despots in their respective areas. During the time of weak kings they behaved like *de facto* rulers and exercised unlimited authority. They engaged even in civil wars without the permission of the monarch. It was easy for some of these governors to set themselves up as independent kings during the weak days of Firoz Tughluq's successors.