The Delhi Sultanate was established in 1206 CE with the Muslim conquest of Northern India. It was not the first part of India to be ruled by Muslims. Parts of the far Northwestern coastal area had been brought under Muslim control around 712 CE. During the first dynasty, Iltutmish (r. 1210-1236) managed to hold out against the Mongol Invasion leaving troops on India’s northern border in the Panjab. After his death, Iltutmish’s daughter, Raziyyat, ruled from around 1236-1239. A later ruler of Northern India, Qutb-ud-din, authorized the construction of a major mosque complex in Delhi, the capital of his new state. The Qutb Minar was distinguished by its towering decorative minaret. The iron pillar or Ashoka’s pillar, so-named after the famous emperor of India of the 3rd century BCE was left near the mosque. This is an example of how symbols of power and ideology were absorbed and repositioned in a central position of later structures. Answer the following.


Who was Qutb-ud-din Aibak and where did he come from? Select the best answer below.

During the period of the Delhi Sultanate in which region was Islamic Civilization prospering?

Why do you think Qutb-ud-Din decided to place his great Minar structure near the Ashoka Iron Pillar? Does this indicate that he was aware of Islam’s arrival and his dynasty’s power as a successor to Ashoka?