The many lives of a medieval Muslim scholar: An introduction to the life and times of Minhaj Siraj al-Din Juzjani, 1193–1260 CE

Abstract

This essay explores the many lives of Minhaj Siraj al-Din Juzjani (fl. 1193–1260), author of the Tabaqat-i Nasiri. Before writing the Tabaqat-i Nasiri in Delhi in 1259–60, Juzjani had served for a half-century in the role of judge, imam, and other positions. In re-reading the historical evidence, I offer twofold analyses of the extant evidence regarding this under-studied historian of Islam. Firstly, I show that Juzjani's personal and social privileges defined his career peregrinations across medieval “Afghanistan” and Hindustan. He belonged to a Sunni scholarly bureaucratic family from Khurasan with deep familial, career, and political connections to the Ghaznavid and Ghuri ruling houses. Secondly, this re-reading of the Tabaqat-i Nasiri is an attempt to make a contribution to the basic epistemic question of how to study the human and historical agency of medieval Muslim scholar-historians like Juzjani without losing sight of the political landscapes and historical contexts in which they operated, and wrote key works of medieval Islamic history.