Firoz Shah Tughluq

Firoz Shah Tughluq

Firoz Shah Tughluq

Sultan of Delhi in Tughluq Dynasty

Reign – A.D. 1351 1388

Father – Rajjab

Firoz Shah Tughluq was born in A.D. 1309. He was the son of Sultan Ghiasuddin Tughluq’s younger brother Rajjab. His mother belonged to Bhatti Rajput family. The early life of Firoz Shah Tughluq was passed in military environment. Although Rajjab breathed his last when Firoz was a child of hardly six or seven years, proper education was imparted to him due to the affection of Ghiasuddin Tughluq. After attaining maturity, Muhammad Tughluq kept Firoz in his company. He was appointed in the post of Naib-i-Amin in A.D. 1327. After the death of Muhammad-bin-Tughluq in 20^th March A.D. 1351, Firoz Shah Tughluq ascended the throne of Delhi.

Historians have divergent opinions regarding the character, personality and works of Firoz Shah Tughluq. The contemporary historians, Barani and Afif have praised the Sultan very much. They have considered him an ideal ruler. They have stressed the fact that after Nasiruddin Mahmood he was the most benevolent, just, liberal and public loving ruler and some modern historians like Elphinstone and Elliot have described him as the Akbar of his age. In the words of Elphinstone, “Firoz Tughluq, whatever may have been his defects or weaknesses deserves much credit for having mitigated in some respect, the horrible practice of his predecessors and for having introduced some tincture of human feeling into administration.”

But Dr. V. A. Smith and Dr. Ishwari Prasad do not agree to the views of Elphinstone and consider it illogical to compare Firoz with Akbar. Pointing out towards his weaknesses, Dr. Ishwari Prasad has related, “Firoz had not even a hundredth part of the genius of the great-hearted and broad-minded monarch, who preached from the high platform of public interest the gospel of peace, goodwill and toleration towards all sects and creeds. The reforms of Firoz lacked permanence; they failed to strengthen the Muslim polity and to gain the confidence of the Hindus, whose feelings were embittered by his religious intolerance.” S.R. Sharma has written, “Firoz was neither an Ashoka nor an Akbar, both of whom have been noted for their religious toleration. Firoz was a fanatic like Aurangzeb.”

Firoz Tughluq was a very industrious and hard working Sultan. He devoted all his time to the welfare of his people. Unfortunately, he could not be praised due to his religious fanaticism. Dr. R.P. Tripathi has aptly remarked about him., “The irony of history reflects itself in the unfortunate fact that the very qualities that had contributed to the popularity of Firoz were also largely responsible for the weakness of the Sultan of Delhi.”

Firoz Shah Tughluq was a benevolent ruler. Dr. A.L. Srivastava has summarized his various acts of charity in these words, “The employment bureau, the charity department, the state-endowed schools and colleges, subsistence allowances and stipends to scholars and holy men, the comfort and convenience given to travelers and his mild and generous treatment towards state employees, all combined to contribute to a feeling that the sultan was the real trustee of the people’s welfare.”

Dr. A.L. Srivastava writes that he was a man of great heart but not of great mind. He was a great lover of education and literature and patronized various scholars, artist and men of letters. He did much for the expansion of education and attached at least one institution to one mosque. Scholars like Barani and Afif were patronized by him.

Besides the above virtues he had various shortcomings. He was quite weak in forming and implementing his politics. His liberal policies contributed much to decline of his power. Wolseley Haig has aptly remarked, “Firoz was a contrast to his cousin (Muhammad Tguhluq). He made no serious attempt to recover either Bengal or Deccan and was a liberal administrator rather than being a strict soldier.”

He was a narrow-minded Sultan. He could never do any work against the will f the orthodox Muslims. He imposed Jaziya upon Hindus and encouraged them to embrace Islam. In his own autobiography, Futuhat-i-Firozshahi, he says, “I encouraged my infidel subjects to embrace the religion of the proclaimed that everyone who rejected his creed and became a Muaslman should be exempted from the jaziya, and poll tax.”

A close and critical study of the policies of Firoz reveals that he was an intolerant and a fanatic ruler. His policies were activated with rigidity. He was a tool in the hands of the Ulema, and conservative Muslims. He tortured and oppressed Hindus. He broke the idols and devastated the temples. He force the Hindus to pay Jaziya and thus by his own policies he created a wide gulf between his Hindu and Muslim subjects which went on increasing with the passage of time. Thus, he wa responsible for the opposition of Hindus. His religious intolerance not only created problems for him but also led to the downfall of Tughluq dynasty.

Dr. R. C. Majumdar, after weighing the pros and cons of his activities, has assessed him, “On the whole, in spite of peace, prosperity and contentment that prevailed during the long reign of Firoz Shah, no one can possibly doubt that his policies and administrative measures contributed to a large extent to the downfall of the Delhi Sultanate, and accelerated the process of decline that had already set in during his predecessor’s reign.”

Hence Firoz Shah Tughluq was not a great and successful Sultan of Delhi Sultanate. His comparison with Akbar seems to be a comparison between a giant and a dwarf. He did not have even a hundredth part of the ability and capability of the great Akbar. But considering his long reign we can say that he was a capable ruler and controlled the affairs of the Sultanate quite efficiently during his lifetime.

Milan Tomic

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