The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.50.3

c7.50.3

Although other authors mention it, an extensive use of the book has been made for the first time in this treatise. The *Fatāwā-i-jahāndārī* is by the historian Baranī who, as internal evidence shows, wrote it under Muḥammad bin Tughluq. It reveals Baranī's ideals and notions of government with clarity besides throwing light on several institutions. The *Tadhkirat-u'l-khulafā fī tawṣiyat-i'l-mulūk wa'l-umarā* is anonymous and without date but it was written in India and mentions 'Alā-u'd-dīn Khaljī and Baranī among others. The of the writers outside India, the most important is Abū-'l-Ḥasan 'Alī al-Baghdādī al-Māwardī, generally known as Imām Māwardī, who in his main work *Al-aḥkām-u's-sulṭāniyah* gives a detailed picture of the administration as he found it during the last days of the Abbasids. As he was writing from the jurist's point of view, his book had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Muslim polity. Ghazzālī wrote as a political philosopher and mystic; it was through him that Greek political ideas gained popularity in Muslim countries. Though a wazīr under the Saljūqs, Abū 'Alī Ḥasan ibn 'Alī Ṭūsī Niẓām-u'l-mulk was long regarded in Muslim lands as a master statesman and his *Siyāsat-nāmah* was the bible of Muslim administrators. So great was his influence that even the spurious *Naṣā'iḥ* enjoyed popularity; it should, however, be admitted that it is useful in throwing light on the spirit of the government in those days.