Medieval rulers and their religions

There has been lot of debate weather the Muslim rulers of medieval India were communal or not. Being a student of history I have the feeling for long time to share my knowledge with fellow citizens and clarify their doubts. We have very wrong notion about historicity. We very often tend to affiliate the religion of the rulers with nature of the state. In this write up I will place some examples about the neutral stand of the medieval rulers. 1. Sultan Jalauddin Khilji (1290-96)was a pious Muslim. But he never mistreated his non Muslim subjects. He considered as unrealistic a policy of forcible conversion of the Hindus or their humiliation, as demanded by theologians. In a discussion with his close associate, Ahmed Chap, he defended the policy of allowing Hindus to worship idols, preach their beliefs, and observe practices which were the hall-mark of infidelity. Thus, they were not, hindered in passing in processions outside his palace, beating drums, and to go to the Jamuna for immersing their images. Likewise, the Hindus were allowed to live a life of ease and splendour and honour even at Delhi, the centre of Islam. According to him, while by a policy of terror, fear of the government and its prestige could be established in the hearts of the people for a short time, it would mean discarding (true) Islam, or, as was said, "it would mean "discarding Islam from the hearts of the people like discarding hair while kneading dough" (p. 76 Satish Chandra)