The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c12.240

c12.240

The muḥtasib has often been called the censor of public morals; this appellation is correct to the extent that he did not allow any open infringement of the law. He was, however, not given the power of violating the privacy of homes: nor was he allowed to spy on others. He was concerned only with flagrant violations and open misdemeanours.¹ The state gave the muhtasib every help in performing this duty and placed a small civil force at his disposal.² Apart from the religious necessity of maintaining morals, it was soon discovered that a people situated as the Muslims were in India could not be allowed to grow lax in its ethical and spiritual conduct without endangering the very existence of the sultanate. We read from the beginning that the sultans appointed qāḍīs and muḥtasibs in every town where they decided to post a Muslim garrison or establish a Muslim colony.³ At intervals chroniclers mention interference on the part of the sultans with new customs which were considered to be un-Islamic or degrading; and the stronger the sultan, the greater was his interest in the moral and religious life of his people. Balban is reported to have considered an efficient ḥisbah a primary necessity of good government; ‘Alā-u’d-dīn Khaljī rigorously suppressed drinking, gambling and other indecencies; Muḥammad bin Tughluq inflicted punishment on such transgressors with his wonted severity.⁴ ‘Alā-u’d-dīn ascribed the contumacy of his nobles and their military inefficiency to the laxity in the morals of his people; otherwise the severity against smugglers and sellers of intoxicants, the prohibition of pleasure parties, the deterrent punishment of adultery would be meaningless.⁵ The Khaljī monarch was face to face with rebellion at home and the menace of Mongol invasion; the first measure to meet that danger was the moral regeneration of his people. It was fortunate that he was helped in his work by the presence in Dehlī at this time of a man of great spiritual strength and influence, the saint Niẓām-u’d-dīn.⁶ Khusraw speaks highly of ‘Alā-u’d-dīn’s ḥisbah; indeed, as will be shown later, most of his special measures amounted to a more efficient organization of the *dīwān-i-riyāsat*.¹ Sulṭān Ghiyāth-u’d-dīn Tughluq maintained *ḥisbah* at a high level of efficiency.² In his son's reign Ibn Baṭṭūṭah was impressed with the strict way in which the observance of religious rites was enforced at the court.³ The *muḥtasib* under Muḥammad bin Tughluq was an officer of great dignity and drew a salary of eight thousand *tankahs*.⁴ The sultan in person acted, at times, as the *muḥtasib*, and examined Muslims on elementary rules of Islam. If they failed to satisfy him, they were punished. He regarded wilful neglect of prayers a heinous crime and great was the chastisement of the transgressors.⁵ A lady belonging to the royal family was found guilty of adultery and stoned to death.⁶ The sultan inflicted the punishment of eighty stripes and three months' solitary confinement on drunkards.⁷ Fīrūz, whose adherence to the Faith was equally staunch, did not relax the *iḥtisāb*; indeed he himself tells us how he prohibited practices which he considered illegal and undesirable.⁸ We do not hear much about the activities of this department during the anarchy which followed. Sulṭān Sikandar Lodī, whose interest in religious matters and whose zeal for Islam were exceptional, must have strengthened *ḥisbah* even more than other organs of government. He, for instance, prohibited the custom of carrying the *nezahs* from various parts of the country to the tomb of the warrior-saint, Sālār Mas‘ūd Ghāzī.⁹ He also revived Fīrūz Shāh's ordinance that women should not visit tombs.