The Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate: Including a translation of Ziauddin Barani's Fatawa-I-Jahandari, Circa, 1358-59 A.D.

This monumental work, The Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate, embodies in its corpus political thought and theory in medieval Mohamedan India, critically studied and preset to the academic world, mainly based on Ziauddin Barani's classical Persian historical work, Fatwa-i Jahandari. Dr. Afsar's translation of Fatwa-i Jahandari, from only one manuscript of that valuable work, in the India Office Library, London, from the main body of this volume. It is for the first time that this book, a veritable mirror of Barani's mind, appears. It enables us to understand the real character of the empire of Delhi. The duties of the king with reference to almost every institution are surveyed by the Jahandari in detail. The state was not theocratic, its basis was not the Shariat of Islam but Zawabit or state law made by the king. Barani, old, bent, half-blind, desperately poor, writing this book, his last, at the advanced age of seventy-eight, was not in harmony with a non-religious, non-Islamic society. Dr. Afsar Begum gives copious footnotes to explain the workings of his mind. The Fatawa is the most thought-provoking work of the Sultanate period and Dr. Afsar's translation is commendable. Dr. Mohammad Habib's introduction makes this work very intelligible. Dr. Habib has added seven chapters wherein he has dealt with in detail the life and thought of ZIauddin Barani. They are a befitting epilogue to this book. It is hoped this book will fill a lacuna in medieval historical literature. It will be received with due attention and appreciation that it richly deserves.