The main task before Sultan Firoz was to satisfy the public and the employees and especially the Umra Class who were afraid and dissatisfied with the changes in the rule of Muhammad Tughlaq. He also tried to satisfy those people who were oppressed during the reign of Sultan Muhammad.
Pleasing
solution of Administration
1. Destruction of
loan registers
When
Firoz Tughlaq became the ruler, a register was presented before him which
contained the names of those people to whom the deceased Sultan had given two
crore tankas as government loan (Sondhar) for the development of agriculture.
Seeing this, Firoz got confused and consulted Qawamulmulk, after which he
destroyed these registers in the court. This made the officers who misused this
money very happy.
2. Appointment of
Khan Jahan Maqbool
On
the same day, Malik Maqbool was appointed as Wazir and his title was Jahan
Maqbool. He had been working on various posts since the time of Muhammad
Tughlaq and had impressed with his work. He was famous for his honesty and
devotion to duty. Firoz used to say: The real ruler of Delhi is Khan-i-Jahan,
but Khan-i-Jahan never forgot his limits.
3. Ban on harsh
punishment
Firoz
Tughlaq banned bloodshed and torture. Barani says that it was the biggest
reason which contributed to the stability of Firoz Shah's rule. He says that 'Siyasat'
death penalty was the prohibited. Firoz stopped the gruesome tortures that were
given in the past. According to Shariat, monarchy is not recognized, hence no
punishment has been prescribed for treason. According to Firoz, "Without
giving any trouble, fear and respect for the government increased in the minds
of the people."
4. Apology letter by public for the actions of Muhammad
Tughlaq
Firoz
Tughlaq repented for the actions of Muhammad Tughlaq. He took an apology from
those people whose family members were killed or suffered loss during the reign
of Muhammad Tughlaq by giving compensation to them. So that the soul of the
deceased Sultan rests in peace and the public gets compensation for its loss
and can forgive Muhammad Tughlaq.
5. Name of former
rulers in Khutba
Firoz
ordered that the names of the previous Sultans of Delhi should also be mentioned
before his name in Friday religious sermons. But the absence of Qutubuddin's
name is surprising. Every Friday after Namaz, it was the rule of Firoz Shah to
go to see Khudavand Zada, the sister of Muhammad bin Tughlaq who had tried to
assassinate him.
6. Higher salaries
to the Umrah by inheriting their positions
Firoz
made the posts of his nobles hereditary and started paying them extremely high
salaries. He used to pay 4 lakh tanka, 8 lakh tanka salary as personal salary
to his mines and nobles. His Wazir Khan Jahan got a salary of 13 lakh tanka.
Reform efforts in Revenue
system
1. Determination
of Deposit
Experienced
officer Khwaja Hussamuddin visited various provinces and checked all the
revenue related records and after six years of hard work, the revenue of the
state was fixed at six crores and seventy-five lakh tankas. This amount of
revenue remained unchanged till the end of the reign of Sultan Firoz and no
change was made in the deposit.
2. Removal of Abwab
Many
Abwab were erected during the rule of earlier Muslims ruler. The Sultan
implemented the tax system according to Islamic law. Four taxes have been kept
under the legal taxes in Islam – Khiraj, Khams, Jizya and Zakat. For the first
time, Firoz imposed Jizya tax strictly on Brahmins. Firoz took a tax called
Haq-i-Sharb of 10% in return for providing irrigation facilities.
3. Production
basis of tax collection
According
to Barani, one of the reasons that made Firoz Shah Tughlaq's rule permanent was
that he ordered that Kharaj (land tax) would be levied as per Hukum-i-Hasil.
The advantage of this was that when production increased or decreased, both the
farmer and the ruler had to bear its profits and losses. This may have provided
some relief to the farmers.
4. Revenue
increasing tasks
Sultan
Firoz also did important work for the expansion of agriculture and increase in
revenue. To facilitate irrigation, Firoz built five big canals. Of these, a 150
mile long canal was built from Yamuna River to Hisar. The second 96 mile long
canal ran from Sutlej to Ghaggar. The third canal started near the hills of
Sirmaur and went till Yesi. The fourth canal ran from Ghaggar to Firozabad city
and the fifth canal ran from Yamuna river to Firozabad. Due to these canals,
cultivable land increased, trade facilities increased and the state's income in
the form of irrigation tax increased. Firoz dug 150 wells for irrigation and
convenience of travelers. According to Farishta, Firoz had built 50 dams on
various rivers to facilitate irrigation and 30 lakes or ponds to store water.
Efforts to improve military system ?
1. Beginning of
land settlement as salary
Firoz
Shah started giving land as a salary to the entire army. This was a unique
system and the previous Sultans of Delhi had not allowed it. Its impact was
far-reaching and harmful. The soldiers posted at the workplace could not
collect their salaries, so he gave it on contract, this made the contractors
very rich and the soldiers got troubled.
2. Making military
posts hereditary
According
to Afiq, if a soldier died or grew old, his post was given to his son
permanently. If that was not possible then his slave would get it permanently
and if he did not have any slave then his women would get it. This rule
remained in place during the forty-year rule of Firoz.
3. Patronizing
corruption in the army
Firoz
relaxed the practice of branding horses. Adopting a completely wrong attitude
towards generosity and kindness, Firoz once even gave a gold tanka to a
distressed soldier so that he could bribe his officers to get his inferior
horse approved.
Due
to these soft measures, in Barani's very eloquent language, the administration
became established, all the works of the government were organized and people
of all classes were satisfied, Hindu or Muslim subjects became happy and
everyone got engaged in their respective professions. " But the
consequences of this softness actually weakened the power, the consequences of
which the successors had to suffer.
Effort to establish a welfare state
Sultan
Firoz is famous for his public welfare works. He accepted the responsibility of
governance towards some sections of the state, which can be considered as an
attempt to give a welfare form to the state. But it is important to note that
his welfare concept was limited to the Muslim society only.
1. Employment Office
One
of his important tasks was to open employment offices. The Kotwal of Delhi was
ordered by the Sultan to search out those who were idle and present them in the
court. The Sultan himself used to check their qualifications and accordingly
they were given jobs. Unemployed people could also enroll themselves in the
employment office.
2. Marriage Office
The
second function of the Sultan towards public welfare was to provide financial
assistance from the state for the marriage of daughters of poor Muslim families.
For this, a separate department named Diwan-i-Khairat was established. Poor
Muslims and widows could apply for this assistance when the girl becomes an
adult. They were given assistance of 50 or 25 tankas depending on the
situation. This department also helped widows and orphan children.
3. Shifa Khana
The
Sultan also established dispensaries where medicine and food were provided to
patients free of charge. The Sultan had earmarked some villages for its
expenses.
4. Promotion of
education
Firoz
Tughlaq had special interest in education. He had established thirty madrasas,
of which the Madrasa of Delhi was an important center of Islamic knowledge and
studies. The Sultan had appointed famous scholars from West Asia in this
centre. Teachers were generously provided with endowments by the state and
scholarships were also arranged for students. The state had made arrangements
for complete education facilities in these madrassas. The Sultan himself was
interested in history and Islamic knowledge.
5. Pension Office
Firoz
tried to make arrangements for lifelong pension for those in civil and military
service.
6.
Diwan-i-Bandgaan
Firoz
was very fond of slaves and the number of his slaves almost reached 1,80,000.
Each slave received a salary of between 10 to 100 tankas and sometimes also
received jagirs. A separate department and a separate officer were appointed to
look after them. Full care was taken of the education of those slaves. All the
chieftains and subedars were ordered to behave filially with their slaves. This
hobby of Firoz proved harmful for the state.
6. Public works
Firoz
got many constructions works done. Firoz was so interested in construction
works that Woolzley Heg has compared him with the Roman Emperor Augustus.
Farishta describes construction work as Sultan's 'main addiction'. According to
him, the Sultan had built 40 mosques, 20 palaces, 100 inns, 5 reservoirs, 100
hospitals, 5 mausoleums, 100 bathrooms, 10 obelisks and 150 bridges. It is
possible that he may have got some of these repaired. He also says that the
Sultan had established 300 cities. The upper floor of Qutub Minar had collapsed
due to lightning, it was built by the Sultan. The proof of Sultan's curiosity
and interest is that he brought two pillars of Ashoka, one from Topra and the other
from Meerut, to Delhi.
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