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Abu Bakr Shah

Overview

Abu Bakr Shah was a Sultan of Delhi belonging to the Tughlaq dynasty. He is generally counted as the 21st ruler of the Delhi Sultanate and the fifth from the Tughlaq line. His brief reign in the late fourteenth century occurred during a period of political fragmentation and dynastic dispute that followed the death of Firuz Shah Tughlaq, and which ultimately weakened the Sultanate ahead of Timur's invasion of northern India.

Key facts

Name Abu Bakr Shah
Title Sultan of Delhi
Dynasty Tughlaq
Position in Delhi Sultanate 21st Sultan
Position in Tughlaq dynasty 5th ruler
Capital Delhi
Predecessor Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq Shah II
Successor Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah III

Background

Abu Bakr Shah was a grandson of Firuz Shah Tughlaq, the long-reigning Tughlaq ruler whose death set off a contested succession in the Delhi Sultanate. Firuz Shah's later years had seen administrative authority increasingly devolved among nobles, princes and slaves of the court, and the absence of a clear successor produced rival factions in Delhi.

Reign

Abu Bakr Shah came to the throne after the murder of his cousin Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq Shah II, having been raised to power by a section of the Tughlaq nobility. His authority over Delhi was limited from the outset because of the rival claim of his uncle, Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah, who had also been associated with the rule of Firuz Shah Tughlaq.

The struggle between the two camps led to a civil conflict around the capital. After a short period in which Abu Bakr Shah held Delhi, Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah secured the city with the support of additional nobles, and Abu Bakr Shah was displaced from the throne.

Significance

Abu Bakr Shah's brief and contested rule is significant chiefly as part of the rapid succession crisis that followed Firuz Shah Tughlaq's death. The repeated changes of ruler, factional fighting among the nobility and the inability of any single claimant to restore central authority all contributed to the steady decline of the Tughlaq state. This weakened condition of the Sultanate is conventionally cited as one of the conditions that enabled Timur's invasion of Delhi at the end of the fourteenth century, after which the Tughlaq dynasty lingered only as a shadow of its earlier power.

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