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125 six A Public Figure Sayyid Jalāl al-dīn Bukhārī, having established himself as the head of his family’s khānqāh in Uch and as the leading heir to the Suhrawardī lineage in India, spent the last few decades of his life as an increasingly well-known public figure. From the mid750s /1350s onward, he was sought out, not only by would-be disciples and students, but also by prominent visiting Sufi shaykhs, by members of the nobility, and by government officials. His interaction with the latter two groups sometimes involved him in the political affairs of the state and is revelatory of the interdependent relationships between the state, the Sufi shaykhs, and the state-appointed religious functionaries. So far in this study of Bukhārī’s life, we have been mostly absorbed in the professionally religious segment of medieval Indo-Muslim society, that is, the world of saints, shrines, the ‘ulama, and so on. But though this was a highly important and influential segment of society, it was not the only one. The circle of the court, and the “secular” poets, writers , and scholars patronized by it, was another pole of Muslim culture and learning. Now Bukhārī’s growing prominence and his good relations with the new Sultan Fīrōz Shāh began to attract the attention of this secular world of rulers, governors, and courtiers. Interactions with Courtiers, Rebels, and Governors Żiyā’ al-dīn Baranī An example of this new attention paid to Bukhārī is a letter from Żiyā’ al-dīn Baranī preserved in one of Bukhārī’s malfūz ˙ āt collections. Baranī is one of the most interesting and well-known personalities of eighth-/fourteenth-century South Asia. His fame rests largely on his historical work, Tārīkh-i Fīrōz Shāhī, the most significant source of information on the reigns of Muh ˙ ammad b. Tughluq and his predecessors. As Peter Hardy writes: “Baranī’s Tārīkh-i Fīrūz Shāhī, completed in 758/1357, is the vigorous and trenchant expression of a conscious philosophy of history which lifts Baranī right out of the ranks of mere compilers of chronicles and annals.”1 Since Baranī’s historical, ethical, and political theories played a significant role in shaping his depiction of 126 Served by the Inhabitants of the World events, the study of his personality and thought has been necessary for historians of the period, particularly of the reign of Muh ˙ ammad b. Tughluq. Baranī, though for a while a disciple of Niz ˙ ām al-dīn Awliyā,’ belonged more to the milieu of the court and secular Muslim culture than to the professionally religious classes. He had been a courtier and boon companion of Muh ˙ ammad b. Tughluq, but after the Sultan’s death in 752/1351 he fell from royal favor. He was implicated in a plan to place a putative son of the deceased king on the Delhi throne while Fīrōz Shāh had already been acclaimed Sultan by the army.2 As a result, Baranī was banished from court by Fīrōz, imprisoned in the town or fort of Bhatnēr for five or six months, and spent the last years of his life in poverty and exile. It was only after his exile from court that Baranī began his writing career, and it seems that one of the first things he wrote was a treatise entitled Ma’ās ˉ ir-i Jalālī containing hadith about the obligation to love the Prophet and his descendants, which he sent to Bukhārī. The letter that accompanied this text was copied by the author of Khizānat al-fawā’id al-Jalālīya, and this appears to be the only record of its existence since it does not appear in the list of Baranī’s works compiled by Mohammad Habib.3 This letter, sent from Bhatnēr after nearly half a year there (in other words, close to the end of his confinement), complains of Baranī’s wretched situation, which he describes as confining his life, comfort, and society. Most of the letter consists of hyperbolic praise, sometimes in verse form, of Bukhārī and of the family of the Prophet, especially ‘Alī and Fāt ˙ ima. It claims that Bukhārī is an ideal sayyid, like ‘Alī in wisdom and Zayn al-‘ābidīn (the fourth Imam) in piety. To seek refuge in such...

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