The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.10

c7.10

Qutb-u'd-dīn Aibak consolidated his conquests by organizing their administration.¹ It is obvious that he could not spare much time in the midst of his campaigns to work out new schemes of government; nor could he afford to make experiments. There is a strong probability that he borrowed the institutions working at Lāhor, and that he employed a large number of experienced Ghaznavid officials. This tradition was considerably strengthened by the arrival of Fakhr-u'd-dīn ‘Iṣāmī at the court of Shams-u'd-dīn Īltutmish. ‘Iṣāmī had served as a wazīr at Baghdād. The sultan extended to him a warm welcome and appointed him his prime minister.² A large number of experienced officials and generals arrived in the next few years from foreign countries, being driven from their homes by the Mongols.³ The sultan thus came to possess expert administrators within the first two decades of its foundation. Considerable interest must have been taken in administrative affairs, for it was at this time that Fakhr-i-Mudabbir presented his Ādāb-u'l-mulūk to the sultan. The Abbasid tradition thus gained a firm footing in the administration of the sultanate of Dehlī.