Minhāj Sirāj Jūzjānī (1193-1266, esp. 1259-1260)

by Alejandra Pizarro (See Chinese translation)

Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjan [Minhâc; Cûzcânî], full name Abu Osman Minhajuddin bin Sirajuddin (see other alternative names), was born in 1193 in the Ghurid capital city of Firuzkuh in the province of Ghor. He was the principal historian for the Mamluk Sultanate of Delhi in northern India and wrote about the Ghurid dynasty. His family originally belonged to Jurjan, on the northwest frontier of Ghor. His father was a Qazi of the Ghorid sultans.

In 1227, Juzjani migrated to Uch [Ucch, Uchch] and then to Delhi. By that time he was fully educated according to the standard of the time and had some experience of diplomatic missions. He came to the court of Nasiruddin Qubacha at Uch, who appointed him a Qazi. After Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish had seized Multan from the hands of Qubacha, Minhaj moved to Delhi. At Delhi, Minhaj found a favourable atmosphere and occupied posts such as Imam, Qazi, Khatib, and sadr-i-jahan.

He wrote his Tabaqat-i Nasiri while holding the post of Qazi of Delhi under Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud. He stayed for about two years in Lakhnauti, the Bengal capital. There, he joined Tughan Khan’s wars against Orissa and acted as a mediator between Tughan Khan and Malik Tamar Khan Qiran, governor of Oudh, when they were quarrelling for the possession of Lakhnauti.

In 1259 he promised to continue his narratives, but there is no continuation of his work after that year. Either he died shortly after, or his work after 1259 has been lost.

His work Tabaqat-i Nasiri is a history of the Islamic world written in Persian and completed in 1260. Named for the Sultan Nasir-ud-Din, it consists of 23 volumes. Its purpose was to account for the Muslim dynasties that originated in Iran and Central Asia.

The Tabaqat-i Nasiri is an important source book for the reconstruction of the foundation of Muslim rule in Bengal. The history of the first fifty years of this rule, from the Turkish conquest up to 1259, is available only in this text. It is the only authentic source from the conquest of Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji until 1259, when it comes to an end, and the only source for the Khalji’s rebellion against the Sultan of Delhi from 1229-1230.

During his two-year stay in the Bengal capital, he collected information about Bakhtiyar Khalji's conquests from his surviving associates for his book. He also used information collected from people at Delhi who took part in the battles of the Delhi sultans against the Bengal rulers. Furthermore, he used other books now lost, such as part of Baihaqi's Reign of Sebuktigin, Abu'l-Qasim Imadi's Ta'rikh-i mujadwal and Ibn Haisam's Qisas-i thani.

In the Tabaqat-i Nasiri, the author gives an idea about the development of Muslim society in Bengal. He details how Bakhtiyar Khalji built mosques, madrasas and khanqahs in the capital, and how the nobles did as well. Sultan Ghiyasuddin Iwaz Khalji also built mosques and madrasas, and arranged lectures on Islamic topics, which were delivered by Muslim divines, such as Jalaluddin son of Jamaluddin Ghaznavi, coming from cultural centres of Central Asia.

The Tabaqat-i Nasiri begins with the prophets, and explains their piety and morality. This continues up to Abdullah, father of the prophet Muhammad and tells the history of the prophet’s life. A large portion of the book is devoted to the Ghurids, but it also details the history of the predecessors in Ghazna before the Ghaznavid Sebuktigin took power. Besides dealing with the Khalji Maliks of Lakhnauti (from Bakhtiyar to Ghiyasuddin Iwaz Khalji), he also writes about the history of Bengal under Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish and his successors. In addition, he devoted some sections to the Shamsi Maliks, some of whom acted as governors of Bengal.