Barni

Introduction Zia Barani (1283-1359) was the most important political thinker of the Delhi
Sultanate, particularly during the reigns of Alauddin Khalji, Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firoz
Tughlaq. He was born in Delhi in 1286, in the family of scholars and officials. Barani was
essentially a great intellectual, having enough knowledge of philosophy, religion, law, and
statecraft and taking into account the totality of the circumstances, both personal and political,
his views on religion at the ripe old age of 74 (1357 AD) was more in the nature of a political
tool for consolidating and expanding the state, which he identified with the Muslim ruling elite.
his views presented a kind of combination of political liberalism on the one hand and religious
fundamentalism on the other. While at places, he presents himself as an ardent religious
fundamentalist by justifying his “all-out war against Hinduism”, he also advocates that Hindus
had to be tolerated for the interests of the state. Even though he has been called a conservative, a
fundamentalist and a bigot.
He represented the idea of political expediency in the Islamic history. His two most
celebrated works include
Fatawa-I-Jahandari and Ta’rik-i-Firoz-shahi,
through which he not only composes the history of this period but also writes on the nature of
kingship, its rationale, duties and obligations.
His Fatawa-I-Jahandari, written as nasihat (advices) for the Muslim kings, is a classic work on
statecraft
As V. R. Mehta states for Fatawa-I-Jahandari , ‘there is no other work on political thought in the
whole period which can rival it in both depth and subtlety of political ideas, notwithstanding his
fads and foibles and strong antipathies to Hindus. It seems he was well versed in the political
philosophy of plato and aristotle and also had deep knowledge of the basic sources of Islam.’
In the Fatawa-i-Jahandari, Barani explains in detail the 24 sets of conduct instructions or advices
(Hidayats or Nasihat) to ensure not only the welfare of the king himself, but also the peace,
prosperity and expansion of his kingdom. Fatawa-i-jahandari is, in this sense, Barani’s most
celebrated commentary on the codes of conduct to be followed by an ideal ruler (the King or the
Sultan) and, in that respect, comes closest to Nicollo Machiavelli’s equally celebrated work
entitled The Prince, which was to appear more than two hundred years later.
Barani constructed a theory of history of the Delhi Sultanate in the Ta’rik-i-Firoz-shahi to show
how the contradictions dogged the Sultanate’s course, bringing about in recurring cycles, the fall
of the established ruling groups.

Barani’s theory of Ideal State /Barani’s theory of the Ideal Sultan

As the title of Fatwa-i-Jahandari suggests, Barani’s concern is with the entire matter of jahandari
or world-keeping, that is, state or government apparatus. The Sultan is the central element of his
polity, while others include nobility, laws, justice, army and bureaucracy.

According to Barani, god is the creator of things and he created everything in pairs of opposites
such as truth and falsehood, peace and disorder. The failure of the political and administrative
affairs of a Muslim King depends upon his religious faith and adherence to the commandments
of the prophets.
Barni’s ideal state is theological Islamic state ruled according to the principles of Shariá. He
supported ideal state/ Sultanate on the pattern of ancient Iranian Sassanid empire but with many
conditions. His ideal sultan represents his ideal state. For him King (Padshah- taken from
Sassanid empire of Iran) is one of the most wonderful creations of God. He is shadow of God on
earth, his vice-regent, representative of God. The heart of King is the object of the sight of God-
wonderful object to view on whose status (light of God) depends virtues of all good people in the
state. Such exalted and divine position of King was conveyed through Mahmud of Ghazni in
‘Fatwa-I-Jahandari’, and Balban in ‘Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi’.

Barni’s Hidayat (advices) to his ideal Sultan: Following are some of the most important of his
24 advices or Hidayats:

• Follow the Shari’a in personal and political domain; flexibility allowed in personal domain but
not in public.
• Dispense justice on the principle of equality. There should be balance between punishment and
forgiveness.
• To maintain and strengthen the state king may adopt any means.
• Ensure peace, truth, justice, economic well-being and welfare of the subjects.
• Maintain stability of ruling class by adopting principle of heredity; closing entry of low born,
mean, up-starters, and infidels to nobility.
• Check and suppress Ignoble, Hindu Priestly class, Philosophers/rationalists.
• Maintain price stability- fixing price, checking weights & measures, hoarding, malpractices,
state procurement, etc.
• Keeping strong, satisfied and loyal Army by taking care of all needs of the soldier- their arms,
equipment, salary, housing, family.
• Formulate Practical state laws, policies, rules & regulations- Zawabit, for cases/situations not
covered in Shari’a.
• Keep himself fully informed about the happenings in the state through strong network of
intelligence, and espionage system.
• Suppress the rebellious elite, both Hindus and Muslims, ban education to the underprivileged,
low born and nondescript people including Muslims.
• Protect old noblity and ruling families and treat them carefully after the conquest of any new
territory.
• Should have firm resolve/determination based on high lofty ideals.
• Should keep the subject in fear and awe with pomp and splendour but should not become
despotic/tyrannical- shouldn’t be hated.
• Frame good policies, rules and regulations to establish the strong & efficient administration.
• Carefully select high officials, judges, counselors, companions.
• Should consult scholars, experts, intellectuals, Consultative Assembly, and his companions.
• Remain loyal and obedient to God especially in later years of his rule. Because of his breaking
many Islamic principles to maintain his state, he should pray for forgiveness and blessings of
God/Allah.

2. Nobility
The nobility was the second component of the monarchy and the very important part of the
ruling class. Since the basic function of the Sultanate was revenue collection, for which the entire
administration existed, and which could not have been performed by the king alone, a set of
people called the nobles, existed to collect the revenue and advise or formulate administrative
policies for it. The Sultan assigned to them ‘the right to levy the revenue in particular territories’
which was known as iqta.
The iqtas were frequently transferred from one person to another, which made them non-
hereditary. The revenue resources created from the appropriation of the surplus produced by the
peasant were distributed among the ruling classes of which the iqtadars were the principal
component.
They were also part of the royal consultative council which advised the king on policy matters.
The selection of such people by the Sultan, therefore, was of crucial nature for which Barani set
certain guidelines, and advised the king to be careful. The criteria were two fold;
first, the people to be selected should be noble-born with loyalty, both personal and political,
towards the Sultan, since according to him the low-born had negative qualities assigned to them
by predestination- they were not fit to rule;
second, they must possess the quality of sound political judgement and render advice to the
monarch while taking into account the prospects and contradictions of the impact of the policies
to be undertaken.

3. Laws in an ideal polity

The Ideal Sultan was supposed to discharge his functions in accordance with the laws.
Barani categorized laws into two kinds, the Shariat and the Zawabit.
While the Shariat meant the teachings and practices of the Prophet and of the pious Caliphs,
the Zawabit were the state laws formulated by the monarch in consultation with the nobility in
the changed circumstances to cater to the new requirements which the Shariat was unable to
fulfill.

while it was ideal for the king, nobility and the personnel of administration to follow the Shariat,
both in personal domain and in public policies, so much so that he suggested that censors are
appointed to oversee the enforcement of shariat in the public sphere, he equally emphasized the
formulation of Zawabit (state laws) (Advice XIV) in the political domain and conceded
flexibility in not following the Shariat (Advice II) in their private spheres. For him, the most
important aspect was achieving the objective, the end; and the end was strengthening the Islamic
state whatever the means.
Laxity in not following the Shariat both in personal and political domains was tolerable till it
began to affect the stability of the state.
The Zawabit, he said, must be in the spirit of the Shariat and enumerated four conditions
(Advice XIV) for its formulation as guidelines.
First, the Zawabit should not negate the Shariat;
secondly, it must increase the loyalty and hope among the nobles and common people towards
the Sultan;
thirdly, its source and inspiration should be the Shariat and the pious Caliphs; and
finally, if at all it had to negate the Shariat out of exigencies, it must follow charities and
compensation in lieu of that negation.
Thus what he envisaged in the Zawabit was an ideal law which could cater to the needs of the
state without offending any section of the nobility in particular and the masses in general.

4. Army
As the Sultanate ultimately rested on the power of the army, whose basic functions were the
security and expansion of the state, Barani advised the king to take greater care in its efficiency,
checking corruption and conspiracies within it and so on.
the administration played varied roles, from revenue collection to maintaining law and order, and
from public works to dispensing ‘justice’. Out of the three main pillars of the administration, the
army was the pre-eminent one which was organized on the decimal system and based on the
Turkish-Mongol model. It was divided into four parts, viz., infantry (foot soldiers or payaks),
cavalry (horsemen), war-elephants and auxiliary, viz., boats, engineers, transporters, scouts,
spies, etc.
The army, apart from performing its above mentioned roles, acquired importance for another
reason as well. It acted as facilitator in the expansion of Islam since the ruling class of the
Sultanate came as invaders and immigrants and it needed a large support base.

5. Bureaucracy
The bureaucracy was another necessary component of the Sultanate whose basic function was to
measure the land and fix and collect the taxes for its disbursement among its beneficiaries; and in
its absence the very existence of the ruling class would have become redundant and neither
would have the army sustained itself. It operated at three levels, viz., centre, province and
village. Barani’s passage in this context on forsaking severe exactions (Advice XVI), checking
corruption, recognising the rights of people.

6. Justice

The most important function of the Ideal Sultan is to render ‘justice’. Ensuring a just polity is a
means to the end of achieving stability in the state. According to Barani, only a pious Muslim
ruler can deliver justice to the people. It is to be sought because the enforcement creates
conditions in which molesters of the faith and Sharia are disgraced and overthrown and the glory
of Islam is increased. He believed that without justice, the Koranic laws are arbitrary decrees.
Justice is established only when the king truthfully follows the commands of religion (ALAM).
Thus he argued that, ‘justice is a necessary condition for religion and religion is a necessary
condition for justice.’
, Barani talks about justice in two spheres
1. In the social sphere, Justice meant an ‘equality-seeking’ conduct, where the ruler and
any other judicial authority tenders justice between the contending parties, by strictly
treating them as equals. For Barani, this equality seeking conduct did not imply equality
between the ruler and the ruled. According to him, the essential function of all states was
to enforce such laws that strengthen the unequal hierarchical order.
2. in the economic sphere, the practice of Ihtikar (hoarding goods bought at low prices to
sell at higher prices) was considered evil. An increase in prices could have posed a threat
to the security of the Sultanate from within and without either in the form of popular
revolt or in military mutiny, desertion, etc. Thus an increase in the prices had the
possibility of cascading and far-reaching implications for the Sultanate. Therefore, in
order to avert it, the need for such justice was imperative.
Another aspect related with justice and consequently with the security of the state was remission
of taxes. At least during calamities, Barani suggested, the king should remit or reduce taxes and
extend monetary help from the treasury till the time it was possible and necessary. Thus, Justice
included a system of price control, goods management of the sultanate, remission of land taxes
and granting monetary help to the needy from the state treasury.