“My sons are engrossed in the pleasures of youth and none of them possesses the capability of managing the affairs of the country. After my death it will be seen that no one of them will be found more worthy of the heir apprenticeship than she, my daughter.”
Thus wrote sultan Iltutmish, who ruled the Delhi sultanate for nearly twenty-six years, about his daughter Razia Begum who is more popular known in history as Razia Sulatana. She occupies an awesome place in the history of the first Muslim dynasty that ruled the area known as the indo-Pakistan region today. Unfortunately, however there is a dearth of authentic literature on her as that era’s prejudiced male historians deemed it below their dignity to give a woman ruler adequate space in their works.
So when Nasiruddin Muhammad, the son and the heir apparent of Iltutmish, died, he decided to nominate Razia as his heir. He was subjected to a severe criticism by the conservatives and the religious clerics as the decree appointing Razia was unpalatable to them. In response to their scathing opposition, Iltutmish defended his stance with the above-mentioned remarks onthe suitability of his daughter as ruler. But it was not to end so and Iltutmish had to finally pick Ruknuddin Firuz shah, Razia’s half brother as his successor. The reasons behind Iltutmish’s betrayal are not known.
The prophecy of Iltutmish on his sons inefficiency proved true when Ruknuddin made a mess of things at the helm of affairs. Chaos and lawlessness reached its apogee. Moreover, his mother Shah Turkan, unleashed a reign of terror on her opponents. She also put to death a young son of Iltutmish, Qutubuddin. She made plans to slay Razia which did notwork out. The people were shocked witnessing their pleasure-loving ruler’s dastardly policies .
Compelled by the horrible scenario, Razia appeared before the people and sought their help to topple the government. The people responded positively and put her on the throne. The military officers proclaimed Razia as Sultan keeping in view the will of Sultan Iltutmish. Ruknuddin was put behind the bars and later on, put to the sword.
Once on the throne, Razia proved her mettle by solving various problems as they surfaced, one after another. Although she won plaudits for her striking capabilities as a ruler, certain religious maniacs thought it sinful to be ruled by a woman . The situation got worse when she started conferring high offices to non-Turks. The powerful clout of Turkish nobles in the court could not tolerate such policies that endangered their monopoly in the state of the affairs. But true to her nature Razia refused to be dictated to. In frustration, the nobles joined hands with the mullahs to start a ferocious mud-slinging campaign against Razia. They accused her of having illicit relations with an Abyssinian slave Yakut who had helped in her struggle for the throne. Her only fault was that she had appointed Yakut as master of royal stables as a reward. Such sinister allegations, wheather they contained some truth in them or not certainly tainted her image. To make her life further difficult, Altuniah, the Governor of Bathinda stood up in revolt against her. Dauntless as she was, she marched against him but her nobles mutinied. She was defeated and handed over to Altunia. The nobles killed Yakut and put Behram, the brother of Razia, on the throne. Razia could do nothing but to befriend Altunia. She married him and they both marched onto Delhi to dethrone Behram. But they were defeated and killed by a wandering band of outlaws.
This talented lady of the thirteenth century ruled for three and a half years impressing all by her matchless bravery and rock solid determination. She is a role model for all Muslim women. Minhagus Siraj, a coeval Muslim historian writes in his book, Tabakat-I-Nasiri “Sultan Razia was a great monarch. She was wise, just and generous, a benefactor to her kingdom, a dispenser of justice, the protector of her subjects, and the leader of her armies. She was endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the right sex, and so in the estimation of men, all these virtues were worthless.”
