» He was a cousin of Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq. After his death the nobles and the ologians of the court selected Firoz Shah as the next Sultan.
» After his accession Firoz Tughlaq was faced with the problem of preventing the imminent break up of Delhi Sultanate. He adopted the policy of trying to appease the nobality, army and theologians and of asserting his authority over only such areas, which could be easily administered from the centre. He therefore made no attempt to re-assert his authority over South India and
Deccan.
» He decreed that whenever a noble died his son should be allowed to succeed to his position including his Iqta and if he had no sons, his son-in-law and in his absence his slave was be succeed.
» Firoz extended the principle of heredity to the army. Soldiers were allowed to rest in peace and to send in their place their sons. The soldiers were not paid in cash but by assignments on land revenue of villages (Vajeha) This novel technique of payment led to many abuses.
» Firoz tried to win over the theologians proclaiming that he was a true Muslim king and the state under him was truly Islamic. In order to keep the theologians satisfied a number of them were appointed to high offices.
» He tried to ban practices which the orthodox theologians considered as non Islamic. Thus he prohibited the practice of Mu slim women going out to worship at graves of saints.
» It was during the time of Firoz that Jizya became a separate tax. Firoz refused to exempt the Brahmanas from payment of Jizya since this was not provided for in Shariat.
» The new system of taxation was according to Quran. Four kinds of taxes sanctioned by the Quran were imposed. These taxes were Kharaj, Zakat, Jizya and Khams. Kharaj was the land tax, which was equal to 1 /10 of the produce of the land, Zakat was 2°% tax on property, Jizya was levied on non-Muslims and Khams was 1 /5 of the booty captured during war.
» In order to encourage agriculture, the Sultan paid a lot of attention to irrigation. Firoz repaired a number of canals and imposed Haque-i-Sharbox Hasil-i-Sharb (water tax).
» He was a great builder. The cities of Fatehabad, Hisar, Jaunpur and Firozabad stand to his credit.
» The two pillars of Ashoka, one from Topra (Haryana) and other from Merrut (U.P.) were brought to Delhi.
» The Sultan established at Delhi a hospital described as Dar-ul-Shifa.
» A new department of Diwan-i-Khairat was set up to make provisions for the marriage of poor girls.
» Another step which Firoz took was both economic end political in nature. He ordered his officials that whenever they attacked a place they should select handsome and well-born young boys and send them to Sultan as slaves.
» However, his rule was marked by peace and tranquility, and the credit for it goes to his Prime Minister Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul.
» He died in 1388.
» The Tughlaq dynasty could not survive much after Firoz Shah’s death. The Malwa, Gujaratand Sharqi (Jaunpur) Kingdoms broke away from the Sultanate.
» Timur’s Invasion :
1398-99- Timur, the lame, Turkish Chief and cruel conqueror from Mangolia and descendant of Chengiz Khan, invaded India in 1398 during the reign of Muhammad Shah Tughlaq the last ruler of Tughlaq dynasty. Taimur s army mercilessly sacked and plundered Delhi. Timur returned to Central Asia, leaving a nominee named Khizr Khan to rule to Punjab. In 1404 he died while on his way to conquer China.