Razia Sultana

Razia Sultana (1205 - October 1240), whose full name was Raziyyat-ud-Dunya wa-ud-Din, was the daughter of Sultan Shams ud-Din Iltutmish and the only woman to rule Delhi as sultan in her own right. ^{1 2} Her father designated her his heir after she proved her ability governing Delhi in his absence, but the nobles passed her over on his death; with the help of the people of Delhi she soon took the throne and reigned as Jalalat al-Duniya wal-Din from 1236 to 1240. ^{2 1} Her coins style her "bint al-Sultan" (daughter of the Sultan), a witness to the legitimacy of her rule resting on her father. ¹

When Iltutmish campaigned against Gwalior in 1231 he left his daughter Razia as his deputy in Delhi, and she administered the capital so capably that he appointed her his heir. ² After her father's death on 30 April 1236 the nobles installed her brother Ruknuddin Firuz, whose misrule and dissipation soon alienated the people. ¹ Razia appealed to the people of Delhi, who deposed Ruknuddin and installed her as sultan; she struck coins in her own name and with her title Jalalat al-Duniya wal-Din. ^{1 2} Her mother Turkan Khatun was a daughter of Qutb ud-Din Aibak, so Razia united in her descent the houses of Aibak and Iltutmish. ¹

Razia ruled Delhi for four years, facing the conspiracies of the officers of the Forty who would not accept a woman's rule. ¹ In 1237 the Qarmatians attacked Delhi's great congregational mosque during the Friday prayer, and the city's people and her forces beat them back. ¹ She is related to have been a devotee of the Sufi saint Shah Turkman Bayabani, at whose hospice she is said to be buried — a devotion of attachment that names no Sufi order for her. ¹ The texts read name no legal school (madhhab) for the sultana herself either; the schools mentioned in the account of the Qarmatian attack are those of the people of Delhi, which the attackers condemned. ¹

In 1240 Malik Altunia, governor of Bathinda, rebelled against her; she marched against him, but the conspiring nobles seized her and installed her brother Muiz ud-Din Bahram as sultan. ¹ She then married Altunia and raised an army with him to recover her throne, but they were defeated near Kaithal on 14 October 1240. ¹ Razia and Altunia were killed after the defeat: the English article's lead dates her death to 15 October 1240, while its narrative judges it more likely that their captors killed them on 13 October, so her death date is built here at month precision with both readings preserved. ^{1 3} October 1240 corresponds to 638 AH, while the Arabic article dates her killing to 637 AH, a lone reading that is not followed. ^{1 2}