Muslim Political Ideas During Delhi Sultanate
Theological basis
Muslims believe that Islamic society and government should be organised on the basis of divine injunctions of the Quran. The sayings and doings of Prophet Muhammad, collectively known as hadis, began to be supplemented with the above. The ulema has given various rulings on the basis of the Quran and the hadis to meet different situations and problems, which are together known as the Shariat (Islamic Law).
Secular basis
Moreover, zawabit (rulers and regulations framed by the Sultans) were also used for the smooth and efficient running of the administration.
Allah-Prophet relationship
According to the Quran, the real master and sovereign of the whole universe are Allah. Allah has sent to all lands through the ages, his Prophets for the transmission of his message, Muhammad being the last one. While it is the duty of the governed to obey the ruler, it is equally the duty of the ruler to discharge his functions efficiently.
Caliphate
In principle, the entire Muslim fraternity should have only a single monarch. But when the caliphate became very extensive and disintegrative forces began to gain the upper hand, the ulema or Muslim jurists developed the theory of governors by usurpation and said that the rulers should rule as the governors of the Caliph. Most of the Sultan’s kept up the pretence of regarding the Caliph as their legal sovereign nominally. Most of them included the name of the Caliph in the khutba (prayer) and the Sikka (coin) and adopted titles indicative of their subordination to the Caliph. As against this, rulers emphasised their own importance. Balban used to say that after the Prophet the most important office was that of the sovereign and called himself the Shadow of God’.
But only three Sultans sought, and secured a Mansur or “letter of investiture from the caliph. The first among them was Iltutmish. Next Muhammad bin Tughlaq tried to pacify the ulema by securing an investiture from the Abbasid caliph in Egypt. After him Firuz also sought and secured it twice. The Sultans kept up the pretence of subservience to the caliph just to exploit the popular Muslim sentiment in their favour.