The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.133

c7.133

The city was decorated and there were general rejoicings. The Friday and ‘Īd prayers were now restored, and when the caliph’s name was recited in the *khuṭbah* for the first time, trayfuls of gold and silver were distributed to the poor. Orders were issued that henceforth only the caliph’s name would be used in *ṭarāz* and inscriptions on public buildings. The sultan allowed the names of only those monarchs to be mentioned in the *khuṭbah* who had been the recipients of formal recognition from the Abbasid caliphs.¹ All the nobles and men and women of note had to take the oath of allegiance to the caliph.² Soon after, Ḥājī Khalaf arrived from Cairo bringing confirmation of the former letters patent. By the time Ḥājī Rajab Burqa’ī, the sultan’s messenger reached Cairo, al-Mustakfī-bi’llah had died, and al-Ḥākim II had succeeded to the caliphate. He sent fresh letters patent and robes. This honour was repeated several times.³ Every time the sultan received these with great humility and respect and sent large presents in return. “But for the danger of pirates and thieves on the route,” says Baranī, “he would have sent all the treasures in Dehlī to Egypt.”⁴ Qutlugh Khān’s supporters were jubilant. Badr-i-Chāch, the court poet, sings of the triumph of ‘the leaders of the sacred law’ in unmistakable terms.⁵ His poems also reflect the sultan’s feelings. The poet, whose profession it was to compose panegyrics for his master, showers praise on the caliphs and calls Muḥammad bin Tughluq their obedient slave and