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Abdul Malik Isami (1311–?) was a 14th-century Indian historian and court poet. He wrote in
Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken a ...
, under the patronage of
Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah Ala-ud-Din Hasan Bahman Shah (; died 10 February 1358) whose original name was Zafar Khan, was the founder of the Bahmani Sultanate. His original name was Zafar Khan titled with "Alauddin Bahman Shah Sultan – Founder of the Bahmani Dynasty" ...
, the founder of the Bahmani Sultanate. He is best known for ''Futuh-us-Salatin'' (c. 1350), a poetic history of the
Muslim conquest of India The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 13th to 17th centuries. Earlier Muslim conquests include the invasions into what is now modern-day Pakistan and the Umayyad campaigns in India in eighth century and res ...
.


Early life

Isami was born in 1311, possibly in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
. His father's name was 'Izz ul-Din 'Isami. His ancestor Fakhr Malik Isami had migrated from
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
to India during the reign of
Iltutmish Shams ud-Din Iltutmish ( fa, شمس الدین ایلتتمش; died 30 April 1236, ) was the third of the Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid Empire, Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sove ...
(r. 1211–1236). In 1327, the Delhi Sultanate ruler
Muhammad bin Tughluq Muhammad bin Tughluq (1290 – 20 March 1351) was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from February 1325 until his death in 1351. The sultan was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. In 1321, the youn ...
decided to move his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in Deccan region. Several residents of Delhi, including Isami's family, were ordered to move to Daulatabad. His 90-year-old grandfather died during this journey.


In Bahman Shah's service

At Daulatabad, Isami was appalled with what he perceived as Tughluq's misdeeds and tyranny. At one point, he decided to migrate to Mecca, but he was determined to write a history of Muslim rule in India before leaving the country. He aspired to emulate the famous Persian poet Ferdowsi, who wrote ''
Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...
'', an epic poem outlining the history of Persia. Qazi Bahauddin of Daulatabad introduced him to
Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah Ala-ud-Din Hasan Bahman Shah (; died 10 February 1358) whose original name was Zafar Khan, was the founder of the Bahmani Sultanate. His original name was Zafar Khan titled with "Alauddin Bahman Shah Sultan – Founder of the Bahmani Dynasty" ...
, who had rebelled against Tughluq. Bahman Shah, who established the independent Bahmani Sultanate in the
Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...
region, became Isami's patron. Isami thus became the earliest panegyrist at the Bahmani court. Under the patronage of Bahman Shah, he started writing ''Futuh-us-Salatin'' in 1349. Isami claims to have composed its 12,000 verses in 5 months. According to him, he started writing the book on 10 December 1349, and completed it on 14 May 1350. Nothing is known about Isami's life after this point.


''Futuh-us-Salatin''

The ''Futuh-us-Salatin'' ("Gifts of the Sultans") is a history of Muslim rule in India until 1349-50. Isami also called it ''Shahnama-i Hind'' ("the ''
Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...
'' of India"). According to Isami, his sources included anecdotes, legends, and reports by his friends and acquaintances. Unlike several earlier chronicles, the book's language is devoid of "rhetorical artifices and unpleasant exaggeration". The book begins with an account of the conquests of the
Ghaznavid The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...
ruler Mahmud (r. 998–1002) and the
Ghurid The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from th ...
ruler
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
(r. 1173-1202). It then goes on to narrate the history of the Delhi Sultanate until 1349-50. The book also describes the early years of the establishment of the Bahmani Sultanate.


Historical reliability

''Futuh-us-Salatin'' is written in masnavi (rhyming poem) style, and is not fully reliable for the purposes of history. It contains factual mistakes and omits several important events. In addition, Isami implies that the various historical events were pre-determined by divine will and
destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...
. He believed that the presence of spiritually powerful Sufi leaders affected the fortunes of a kingdom. For example, he attributes to the decline of the Delhi Sultanate to the death of the Sufi saint
Nizamuddin Auliya Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya (sometimes spelled Awliya; 1238 – 3 April 1325), also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Mahbub-e-Ilahi () was an Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, and is one of the most famous Sufis from the India ...
. Similarly, he claims that the Deccan region prospered because
Burhanuddin Gharib Burhanuddin Gharib (d. 1344) was an Indian Sufi of the Chishti Order. Life Burhanuddin Gharib studied under Nizamuddin Auliya, the Sultan ul Mashaikh of Delhi. According to Saiad Mahomed of Karmania in the "Seyar ul Aulia," Burhanuddin w ...
and his successor Zainuddin Shirazi lived in Daulatabad. Isami is highly critical of Muhammad bin Tughluq. On the other hand, he calls his patron Bahman Shah as the rightful
caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
. He claims that Tughluq forced the ''entire'' population of Delhi to move to Daulatabad, and that only 10% of the migrants survived the journey. Both these claims appear to be exaggerations. According to Isami, this unfortunate situation was a result of God's punishment to the corrupt Muslims. Despite these defects, Isami's book is a valuable source of information about the political history and social life of 14th century India.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Panegyrists 14th-century Indian historians Delhi Sultanate Bahmani Sultanate 14th-century Indian Muslims 14th-century Persian-language writers Indian male writers Poets from Delhi 1311 births Year of death uncertain Scholars from Delhi 14th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world