Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s1.1

c5.s1.1

It is still somewhat obscure exactly how and when the title of ‘Sultan’ originated. It was first used by the rulers who set up as independent kings in the former provinces of the Caliph of Baghdad.¹ The terms ‘Sultan’ and ‘Sultanate’ are derived from a common root meaning ‘power, authority’, and are generally applied to that form of State which began to prevail in the Islamic world soon after the first four successors of Muhammad, but which was not originally contemplated by the Qur’an.² A study of the theory of sovereignty under the Sultans of Delhi is full of interest, as it discloses not only the political ideas of the Muslims, but in a wider sense their whole outlook on life. This great change from the theoretic ‘Khilafat’ of the Qur’an to the despotic rule of the Sultans of Islam requires a word of illustration.