The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c13.8

c13.8

The most important function of the ṣadr-u’ṣ-ṣudūr was to recommend men of learning and merit to the sultan for state stipends, so that they might devote themselves to the pursuit of knowledge.² This patronage gave the chief ṣadr great influence over education as well as public opinion, for both pulpit and chair were controlled by men in the service of the state. There is, however, no instance on record of the sultan being able to influence the opinion of the ‘ulamā on any point of law. The exaltation of the royal authority had begun under the Abbasids; the ‘ulamā of the sultanate can be accused only of lack of originality in the interpretation of the Muslim law in the realm of politics. In every other respect they showed a sturdy independence. It was a qāḍī who boldly criticized ‘Alā-u’d-dīn Khaljī’s government; another doctor of the sacred law protected the rights of the dhimmīs when Sikandar Lodī’s zeal was carrying him away.³ The ṣadr-u’ṣ-ṣudūr was not so much controller of opinion as guardian of learning. It was, therefore, considered necessary to give the office to a man whose piety was above question; when a less worthy appointment was made, it caused a great scandal.¹ In no other way was education controlled by the state. It is true that the muḥtasib was responsible for the purity of doctrine; but his authority was exercised only to prevent disruptive heresy. Baranī complains of ‘the heretic Sa‘d, the logician ‘Ubaid, the misbelieving poet and Najm-i-Intishār, the philosopher’ who had exerted bad influence on Muḥammad bin Tughluq; it is obvious that their views must have been unorthodox in the extreme, yet no one seems to have molested them.² There are few instances of prosecution for heretical views; these only took place when such preachers became a political danger. The colleges were free to manage their own affairs; their sources of income were large endowments. The students were charged no fees; they were supported by the college. The madrasah in the days of the sultanate was the repository of all that was best in the arts and sciences of the Middle Ages. Indeed the sultanate of Dehlī was the preserver of all that was left of Islamic culture and learning in the East after the Mongol cataclysm. At that time the Muslim empire of India was in the vanguard of human progress not a fallen wayfarer abandoned by the caravan to muse on its past glories.