Ruknuddin Firoz Shah

Ruknuddin Firoz Shah

Ruknuddin Firoz Shah

SULTAN OF DELHI
REIGN - A.D. 1236
FATHER - ILTUTMISH
MOTHER - SHAH TURKAN

After the death of Iltutmish a tug of war for supremacy started between the Sultan and the group of forty slaves. Nasiruddin was the most renowed prince and the ablest son of Iltutmish. He breathed his last in A.D. 1229 in Bengal. Iltutmish was very much aggrieved at the premature death of his eldest son. He did not have good opinion about his second son Ruknuddin Firoz Shah as he was given to sensual pleasures and had no sense of responsibility. The other sons of Iltutmish were too young to undertake the responsibility of the state. Iltutmish, therefore, decided to nominate his daughter Raziya his successor who was a very cleaver, brave and bold lady. But it was a new experiment and was against the feelings of the Muslims. Besides, the sons of Iltutmish and his officers also did not relish it, but Iltutmish crushed all his opponents and sought the permission of his courtiers. The name of Raziya was stuck on the silver coins and she was nominated successor of sultan Iltutmish.

But after the death of Iltutmish, much against his will, the Turkish nobles enthroned Ruknuddin Firoz Shah in place of Raziya. He was an incapable youth and proved to be an incompetent ruler. His mother, Shah Turkan, who was, in fact, a maid-servant earlier, captured all the powers and proved a wicked conspirator. She won favour of the nobles and courtiers. Firoz could have ruled for a long time if he had acted wisely but his overwhelming ambitions and love for sensual pleasures defamed him and the people began to oppose him. The powerful Shamsi governors declared their independence as they were not prepared to be ruled by an incompetent ruler like Ruknuddin Firoz Shah.

Shah Turkan, the mother of the Sultan, tried to act as dictator. She got killed some ladies of the harem of Iltutmish and deprived some more of their privy purses. Qutbuddin, a very young son of Iltutmish, was also blinded and put to death by her. She also conspired to assassinate Raziya. All her cruel activities roused a feeling of hatred among the nobles and they realized their mistake. Revolts cropped up in many parts of the Sultanate of Delhi. Raziya also took advantage of these revolts and chaos and she presented herself in the mosque on one Friday wearing red robes and requested the public for help. She also highlighted the cruelties of shah Turkan in such a way that the people who were already fed up with the reign of Ruknuddin Firoz Shah and Shah Turkan, promised to support her. Besides the people of Delhi, she also had the support of the army. Ruknuddin was dethroned after about seven months of reign. He died on November 19, A.D. 1236 in confinement.

Milan Tomic

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