The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c10.13

c10.13

The chief minister was called the *wazīr*.³ Muslim political thinkers attach great importance to this office. “The *wazīr*,” says al-Fakhrī, “stands midway between the sovereign and his subjects.”⁴ Fakhr-i-Mudabbir calls a *wazīr* a partaker in sovereignty; indeed his own technical domain must be left alone by the monarch.⁵ “No empire,” continues the same author, “can be stable or prosperous without a *wazīr*.”⁶ In the words of an Indian ruler of this period, “Sovereignty and dominion could not attain the pinnacle of their height without the help and co-operation of a *wazīr*, whose wise deliberations would result in promoting the welfare of the country and the prosperity of the people.”⁷ Such a person was not easy to find, but if Divine Providence raised the right man to this office, it was the duty of the people to be deeply thankful for such a blessing.⁸