Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Muhammad Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, 

The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife, Kitab dhikr 

al-mawt wa-ma badahu, Book XL of The Revival of the 

Religious Sciences, Ihya ulum al-Din. Translated by T. J. 

Winter (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1995); 

Jane Idleman Smith and Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, 

The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

Delhi

The capital of modern i

ndia

, greater Delhi is situ-

ated on the west bank of the Yamuna River in the 

northern part of the country. It encompasses an 

area of about 572 square miles, which includes the 

modern city of New Delhi, and is home to nearly 

14 million people. Today, the majority of the city’s 

inhabitants are Hindus from northern India, and 

Muslims constitute its largest minority. There are 

also a large number of Sikhs, many of whom fled 

to the city from the Punjab at the time of the vio-

lent 1947 partition, when India became an inde-

pendent country. Delhi is also home to Buddhists, 

Jains, Christians, and an international diplomatic 

corps that serves at embassies in New Delhi, the 

southern part of the city.

The history of Delhi is actually one of at 

least eight different fortress cities built in close 

proximity to each other over many centuries, 

each designed to satisfy the needs and tastes of a 

different group of rulers. The earliest is thought 

to have been Indraprastha, a Hindu city that 

existed 3000 years ago. Muslims from a

Fghani

-

stan

 invaded at the end of the 12th century and 

located the capital of the d

elhi

 s

Ultanate

 there 

in 1193. The dynasties of the sultanate situated 

their fortress cities on lands on the south side 

of modern Delhi. Later rulers transferred the 

capital to Agra or Lahore, but eventually they 

returned to Delhi. The Mughal ruler Shah Jahan 

K  186  

Delhi

---

Source: After Gavin Hambly, Cities of Mughal India

---

(r. 1628–58) built Delhi’s most spectacular Isl-

amicate urban complex, which he called Shahja-

hanabad (Shah Jahan City). It was located north 

of the previous city sites, on the west bank of 

the Yamuna.

Among Delhi’s most important Islamic monu-

ments are the Qutb Minar complex, comprised 

of a towering 

minaret

 and the Quwwat al-Islam 

communal 

mosqUe

. Construction of these build-

ings began in 1193 and continued intermittently 

for several centuries. They were built where a 

Hindu temple once stood and incorporate sec-

tions from the temple walls and local architec-

tural features, symbolically demonstrating both 

that the Hindu religion was being subordinated 

to Islam and that Islam was adapting itself to its 

Indian environment. About three miles north-

east of this site, Sultan Ala al-Din Muhammad 

Khilji (r. 1296–1316) built the fortress city of 

Siri, near which the Chishti saint n

izam

 

al

-d

in

a

Wliya

 (d. 1325) located his mosque and Sufi 

hospice. Nizam al-Din’s shrine is still considered 

to be one of the most sacred centers in Delhi for 

Indian Muslims. Other rulers sponsored the con-

struction of communal mosques, domed tombs, 

and religious schools, which combined Middle 

Eastern architectural traditions with indigenous 

ones. At Shahjahanabad, the most impressive 

structures that still stand are the Jama Masjid, the 

largest communal mosque in India, and the Red 

Fort, with its palaces, gardens, kiosks, audience 

halls, administrative offices, and private mosque 

for the ruler.

Delhi was besieged by British forces during 

the 1857 rebellion, and significant areas of the 

city were razed to the ground. The British not 

only eradicated the m

Ughal

 

dynasty

 but also 

rebuilt the city to serve their needs as India’s new 

sovereigns. Military cantonments were situated 

in strategic areas, and a residential neighborhood 

known as the Civil Lines for British administra-

tors was established on the north side of Shah-

jahanabad. This is where Delhi University was 

also built early in the 20th century. New Delhi, 

designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker 

to be the capital of British India after 1911, is 

distinguished by a dazzling complex of Mughal–

British-style government buildings, monuments, 

gardens, and a central business district. In addi-

tion to serving the practical purposes of govern-

ment, it was also intended to symbolize Britain’s 

political and cultural mastery over India. Today, 

it is where the official business of an independent 

India is conducted. The residence of the former 

British viceroy is now where India’s president 

conducts official receptions. The Indian parlia-

ment is located nearby in the same complex of 

buildings.

Delhi has functioned as a center of Islamic 

religion and culture through much of its history. 

In addition to Nizam al-Din Awliya, other famous 

Muslims who were born there or who spent sig-

nificant parts of their life there were the Chishti 

saints Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaaki (d. 1235) 

and Nasir al-Din Chiragh-i Dihli (d. 1356); the 

great Indo-Persian poet Amir Khusraw (d. 1325); 

the Mughal prince and student of Muslim and 

Hindu philosophy and mysticism d

ara

 s

hikoh

 (d. 

1659); Dara’s sister Jahanara, also a Sufi devotee 

(d. 1681); the early modern revivalist Shah Wali 

Allah (d. 1762); the religious reformer s

ayyid

a

hmad

 k

han

 (d. 1898); and the renowned Urdu 

poets g

halib

 (d. 1869) and Altaf Husayn Hali (d. 

1914). Delhi is also the location of the official 

memorials for many of modern India’s great non-

Muslim leaders, such as m

ohandas

 k. g

andhi

 (d. 

1947), Jawaharlal Nehru (d. 1964), and Indira 

Gandhi (d. 1984).

See also 

architectUre

;  c

hishti

  s

UFi

  o

rder

; 

cities

; h

indUism

 

and

 i

slam

.