Here’s the English translation:


*Razia Sultan*


Razia was placed on the throne by the nobles of Delhi in order to get rid of Shah Turkan and Firoz Shah. According to Minhaj-i-Siraj, a contemporary historian, Razia was endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the right sex, and therefore, in the estimation of men, all these qualities were useless.


Although Razia was an intelligent, just, kind, and talented ruler, and was endowed with all the qualities necessary for a good king, her reign lasted little more than 3 years. The reason was her intimacy with Jamaluddin Yaqut, an Abyssinian slave who had risen to the position of master of the stables. Even orthodox Muslims turned against her because she began dressing like a man, rode in public, and conducted business in the open.


As a result of all the above reasons, the amirs and maliks at Razia’s court, as well as the governors of some provinces, began to conspire to remove her. Within a fortnight of her return to the capital, Altunia, the governor of Bhatinda, raised the banner of rebellion. 


Razia immediately proceeded against Altunia along with Yaqut. However, on the way, Altunia’s Turkish followers murdered Yaqut, which not only weakened Razia but also greatly distressed her. Taking advantage of this, the conspirators attacked her and imprisoned her. 


Thereafter the nobles made Bahram Khan, the third son of Iltutmish, the ruler of Delhi. Altunia was not given his due share of honor and rank, so he turned against Bahram Khan. In August 1240 CE he freed Razia and married her. After this, both marched to capture Delhi. They were defeated by Bahram’s army and forced to retreat toward Bhatinda. On the way, on 13 October 1240 CE, they were murdered near Kaithal.


According to Minhaj-i-Siraj, Sultan Razia was a great ruler. She was wise, just, and a generous donor to her realm, dispensed justice, protected her subjects, and led the army. She was endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the right sex, so in the estimation of men all these qualities are useless.


Even modern historians have greatly praised her personal qualities and virtues as a ruler. She employed diplomacy to deal with the coalition of nobles against her, dividing them among themselves, and similarly aided Malik Hasan Qarlugh against the Mongols in the politics of Central Asia. 


She was also a brave soldier and a capable military commander and herself led various military campaigns. Razia also realized the need to establish a strong monarchy by reducing the power of the Turkish slave nobles and tried to be as independent as possible, although she was not successful in this, and the Turkish slave nobles successfully conspired and removed her.


Professor A.L. Srivastava holds Razia in high esteem when he says that the other members of Iltutmish’s family before and after her were very weak in personality and character. Professor K.A. Nizami also considers her the most capable among Iltutmish’s successors.


---


Note: There’s a date error in the original — Razia was killed on 13 October 1240 CE, not 1248 CE. I’ve corrected it in the translation while keeping the text faithful to your source.


Want me to compile all these translated bios into one PDF/notes format?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AL ASHARI SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

 AL ASHARI SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY The more constructive among Asharite thinkers for no doubt on the right path and anticipated some of the more modern forms of idealism yet on the whole the object of the Asharite movement was simply to defend orthodox opinion with the weapons of Greek dialectic.Muslim thinkers of the school of Al AShari did not believe in the infinite divisibility of space and time with them space , time and motion are made up of points and instance which cannot be further subdivided. Ibne Azam however rejected the Asharaite notion of infinite smalls and modern mathematics has confirmed his view. the Asharite argument therefore cannot logically resolve the paradox of zeno Reference: The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam- Allama Iqbal.
Read more

FREDERICK II

Image
FREDERICK II His court was half Oriental and full of highly educated Arabs and some of these were associated in the education of the young King .now they were at some pains to make their point of view clear to him. He got a Muslim view of Christianity as well as a Christian view of ISlam and and unHappy result of this double system instruction was a view exceptional in the age of faith that all religion were  impostures.  He  talk freely on the subject . His blasphemies are on record. He gathered Jews and Muslim as well as Christian philosphers at his court and he did much to educate the Italian mind with saracenic influences. through him the Arabic numerals and algebra were introduced to Christian students and among other philosophers at his court was Michael Scott , who translated portions of Aristotle and the commentaries thereon of the Arab  philosopher averroes of cordoba. We have seen how the Arabs were the means of restoring Aristotle to Europe and how such a ...
Read more

Maulvi Samiullah Khan

Image
 Maulvi Samiullah Khan  He was a close aziz of Sir Syed. Born in 1834 in Delhi, after getting Arabic-Persian education, he got law education and got the post of Munsif. He had a keen eye on the law, hence gave clan-like decisions, but did this work according to his temperament. After not getting the desired results, he resigned and started practicing law.He started it on the very first day. Sir Syed's followers are helpful in his education movement. When a Madrasa was established in Aligarh under his mother, its supervision was handed over to him. He carried out his duties with utmost audacity. On the issue of Syed Mahmood's murder, he spoke to Sir Syed. There was a disagreement and there was a bad temper.But his sympathy for the college remained with him till the end. He died in Aligarh on 17th April 1908. As per his will, his body was taken to Delhi. He was laid to rest near his father's side near the tomb of Shah Abdul Aziz Muhammad Das, outside Delhi gate. incinerated R...
Read more