BARANI, ZIYA'-UD-DIN

born 1285, India died after 1357 Barani also spelled Barni the first known Muslim to write a history of India; he resided for 17 years at Delhi as nadim (boon companion) of Sultan Muhammad ibn Tughluq. Using mainly hearsay evidence and his personal experiences at court, Barani in 1357 wrote the Tarikh-e Firuz Shahi (History of Firuz Shah), a didactic work setting down the duties of the Indian sultan toward Islam. In his Fatawa-ye jahandari (Rulings on Temporal Government), influenced by Sufi mysticism, he expounded a religious philosophy of history that viewed the events in the lives of great men as manifestations of divine providence. According to Barani, the Delhi sultans from Ghiyas-ud-Din Balban (reigned 126687) to Firuz Shah Tughluq (reigned from 1351) who had followed his guidelines for the good Islamic ruler had prospered, while those who had deviated from those precepts had failed.