Relations between Delhi Sultans and Abbasid Caliphs

As the most of Muslim sultans, Delhi sultans had been loyal to the Abbasid caliphate for being legitimate. Symbolic acts such as minting caliphs name on the coins and bringing caliphs name in the sermon by most Delhi sultans that their official religion was Hanafi reveals the fact that they theoretically were faithful to the caliphate system. Some of these sultans according to the political conditions in their time and to excel upon their rivals and attract support the Indian subcontinents Muslims that were mostly Hanafi or Shafei, established relation with the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad and Cairo and received the permission of ruling from them. In this article ,the relationship between the sultans and Abbasid caliphs of Bagdad and Cairo and their motivations and reasons for the establishment of these relations have been studied.