The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.121

c7.121

A controversy still raged in the learned circles of the capital about the legal position of the sultan.² Just as it was found unsatisfactory to preserve Musta'ṣim's name on the coins and in the *khuṭbah*, the jurists in India must have disliked the fiction that the sultan was a 'helper' or a 'friend' of an unknown and apparently non-existent caliph. The realists regained the upper hand; the idea of a legally independent sultanate appealed to Muḥammad bin Tughluq, a strong man of independent views. His earlier coins discard references to a caliph; he defended himself from a possible charge of heresy in two ways. He inscribed the Muslim formula of faith, verses from the Qur'ān and pious sayings on his coins; he also introduced the names of the first four caliphs on some pieces.³ It is possible that some one had quoted the saying of the Prophet that "the *khilāfat* would last for thirty years after him; it would then be converted into an empire."⁴ The first thirty years of the caliphate were the days of the Republic when the four rightly-guided caliphs had ruled. The insertion of their names would be a reminder to the people that the caliphate was no more; also, if a sultan had to own allegiance to any one, it should be to the rightful caliphs of the Republic. Still the controversy went on. Ultimately Qutlugh Khān, the sultan's teacher, convinced the monarch that no monarchy could be lawful without a recognition from the *khalīfah*; the sultan's failures were due to the fact that he was not a lawful ruler as he had not obtained recognition from the caliph.⁵ Muḥammad bin Tughluq had probably more mundane reasons as well for accepting the suggestion. His harshness had alienated his subjects; his experiments had proved disastrous. A spectacular recognition of his rule by the caliph would impress a considerable section of his people and bring them back to obedience. He must have heard rumours of the re-establishment of the Abbasid caliphate in Egypt. He now made diligent inquiries to discover the details.¹ This must have happened not long before the year 741 A.H. (1340 A.C.), as that is the earliest date of the *khalifah* coins.² The sultan must soon have discovered that as early as 659 A.H. (1261 A.C.) an Abbasid refugee in Egypt had been elevated to the dignity of caliph. The reigning caliph was al-Mustakfī-bi'llah whose name appears on the coins of Dehlī as late as 745 A.H. (1344 A.C.).³ Qutlugh Khān's party had won the day, for the sultan began to believe firmly that any monarch who reigned without an express decree from the Abbasid caliphs was an usurper.⁴ He also took the extreme view that organized social or religious life was not lawful without the caliph's consent, and, therefore, ordered that congregational prayers on Fridays and the two 'Īds be kept in abeyance.⁵ The sultan and his nobles took the oath of allegiance to the caliph and emissaries were sent with an application for recognition.⁶ In 745 A.H. (1344 A.C.) Ḥājī Sa'īd Ṣarṣarī arrived from Egypt bearing from the caliph al-Mustakfī-bi'llah letters patent, a standard and robes for the sultan, who received them with the utmost respect.⁷