It was next necessary for ‘Ala-ud-din to establish himself firmly at Delhi, where the Queen-dowager, Malika Jahan, had in the meanwhile placed her younger son on the throne under the title of Rukn-ud-din Ibrahim. Her elder son, Arkali Khan, dissatisfied with some of her acts, had remained at Multan. ‘AIa-ud-din, on hearing of this dissension, marched hurriedly for Delhi in the midst of heavy rains. After a feeble resistance Ibrahim, deserted by his treacherous followers, left Delhi and fled to Multan with his mother and the faithful Ahmad Chap.
Ala-ud-din’s position was, however, still precarious. He had to reckon with several hostile forces, like the refractoriness of the Turks, the defiant attitude of the rulers of Rajputana, Malwa and Gujarat, the plots of some nobles, who tried to imitate his example, and the apprehension of the Mongol menace. But quite different from his uncle in temperament and outlook, the new Sultan tried to combat these odds with indomitable energy, and his efforts were crowned with success.
The Mongol raids formed a source of constant anxiety and alarm to the Delhi Government for a long time. Within a few months of ‘Ala-ud-din’s accession, a large horde of the Mongols invaded India, but Zafar Khan repulsed them with great slaughter near Jullundur. The Mongols appeared again in the second year of the Sultan’s reign under their leader, Saldi. This time also Zafar Khan vanquished them, and sent their leader with about 2,000 followers as prisoners to Delhi. But in the year 1299 Qutlugh Khwaja marched into India with several thousand Mongols. This time their object was not plunder but conquest, and so they “did not ravage the countries bordering on their march, nor did they attack forts”. They arrived in the vicinity of Delhi with a view to investing the city, where a great panic consequently prevailed. Zafar Khan, ” the Rustam of the age and the hero of the time “, charged them vigorously but was killed in the thick of the fighting. His jealous master felt satisfied that “he had been got rid of without disgrace”. Probably struck with awe at the valour of Zafar Khan, the Mongols soon retreated. They led another incursion into India, and advanced as far as Amroha in A.D. 1304 under ‘Ali Beg and Khwaja Tash, but were beaten back with heavy losses. The last Mongol invasion during this reign took place in 1307-1308, when a chieftain named Iqbalmand led an army across the Indus. But he was defeated and slain. Many of the Mongol commanders were captured and put to death. The Mongols, dispirited by repeated failures in all their invasions and terrified by the harsh measures of the Delhi Sultan, did not appear again in India during his reign, to the great relief of the people of the north-west frontier and Delhi.
Besides chastising the Mongols, the Sultan, like Balban, adopted some defensive measures to guard effectively the north-west frontier of his dominion. He caused old forts to be repaired and new ones to be erected on the route of the Mongols. For better security, garrisons were maintained in the outposts of Samanas and Dipalpur, always ready for war, and the royal army was strengthened. Ghazi Malik (afterwards Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq), who, as Governor of the Punjab since 1305, was in charge of the frontier defence, ably held the Mongols in check for about a quarter of a century.
The “New Mussalmans”, settled near Delhi, were also severely dealt with by ‘Ala-ud-din. They were discontented and restless because their aspirations for offices and other gains in their land of domicile had not been fulfilled, and they actually rebelled when ‘AIa-ud-din’s army was returning from the conquest of Gujarat.
The uniform success of ‘Ala-ud-din during the early years of his reign turned his head. He began to form ” the most impossible schemes and nourish the most extravagant desires”. He wanted to ” establish a new religion and creed” and also aspired to emulate Alexander the Great as a conqueror of the world. In these designs, he sought the advice of Qazi ‘Ala-ul-mulk (uncle of the historian Zia Barni), formerly his lieutenant at Kara and then Kotwal of Delhi, who at once pointed out to him the unsoundness of his schemes. As regards the first design, Qazi ‘Ala-ul-Mulk remarked that “the prophetic office has never appertained to kings and never will, so long as the world lasts, though some prophets have discharged the functions of royalty”. About the second one, he observed that a large part of Hindustan still remained unsubdued, that the kingdom was exposed to the raids of the Mongols, and that there was no wazir like Aristotle to govern the state in the Sultan’s absence. The Sultan was thus brought to his senses. He abandoned his “wild projects”, but still described himself on his coins as “the Second Alexander”.
The reign of ‘Ala-ud-din witnessed the rapid expansion of the Muslim dominion over different parts of India. With it begins, as Sir Wolseley Haig remarks, “the imperial period of the Sultanate”, which lasted for nearly half a century. In 1297 ‘Ala-ud-din sent a strong army under his brother, Ulugh Khan, and his wazir, Nusrat Khan, to conquer the Hindu kingdom of Gujarat, which, though occasionally plundered, had remained unsubdued and was then ruled by Rai Kamadeva II, a Baghela Rajput prince. The invaders overran the whole kingdom and captured Kamala Devi, the beautiful queen of Karnadeva II, while the Raja and his daughter, Devala Devi, took refuge with King Ramachandradeva of Devagiri. They also plundered the rich ports of Gujarat and brought away enormous booty and a young eunuch named Kafur. They returned to Delhi with profuse wealth, Kamala Devi, who later on became the favourite wife of ‘AIa-ud-din, and Kafur, who rose to be the most influential noble in the State and its virtual master for some time before and after ‘Ala-ud-din’s death.