When Iltutmish died, the nobles unanimously appointed Ruknuddin as the new king. During Ruknuddin's reign, his mother Shah Turkan took control of the state affairs, and started mistreating her rivals. Their execution of Qutubuddin, a popular son of Iltutmish, led to rebellions by several nobles, including Malik Ghiyasuddin Muhammad Shah - another son of Iltutmish. Amid these circumstances, Razia seized the throne in November 1236, with support of the general public and several nobles, and Ruknuddin was executed. Razia also faced rebellions, and was deposed and killed in 1240. The nobles then appointed Muizzuddin Bahram - another son of Iltutmish - on the throne, but subsequently deposed and killed him in 1242. Next, the nobles placed Ruknuddin's son Alauddin Masud on the throne, but he too, was deposed in 1246. Order was re-established only after Nasiruddin-Mahmud became Sultan with Iltutmish's prominent slave, Ghias-ud-din-Balban as his deputy (Naib) in 1246. Minhaj calls the new Sultan a son of Iltutmish, but Isami and Firishta suggest that he was a grandson of Iltutmish. Some modern historians consider Minhaj more reliable, while others believe that the new Sultan was a son of Iltutmish's eldest son Nasiruddin (who died before Iltutmish), and was named after his father. Balban held all the power at the time and became Sultan in 1266. Balban's descendants ruled Delhi until they were overthrown by the Khaljis. Religion Iltutmish was a devout Muslim, and spent considerable time praying at night. He was punctual in offering his prayers. Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad says: He also made special arrangement for prayers on military campaigns. His court poet Amir Ruhani describes him as a "holy warrior and Ghazi". He revered several Sufi saints, including Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Hamiduddin Nagauri, Jalaluddin Tabrizi, Bahauddin Zakariya, and Najibuddin Nakhshabi. Policy towards Hindus When a group of ulema came to Iltutmish and requested him to apply the law of “death or Islam” on Hindus, Iltutmish asked Nizam-ul’-Mulk Junaidi to give a suitable reply to the ulama. The Wazir replied to them: Iltutmish held religious discourses by orthodox ulama - such as Sayyid Nuruddin Mubarak Ghaznavi - in his court, but disregarded their advice while formulating the imperial policies. He understood the limits to which the Islamic shariah law could be implemented in largely non-Muslim India. He did not consult the ulama while making the unorthodox decision of nominating his daughter Raziya as his successor. This balance between the shariah and