The founder of Jaunpur was Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq, the emperor of Delhi. Jaunpur is situated on the bank of the river Gomti.Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq once happened to camp in the vicinity of the river Gomti. There the open space attracted the attention of the Sultan. He decided to build a model city there. Thus the city was established in 772 AH and was named as “Jaunpur” after the great learned king of the dynasty, Mohammed Bin Tughlaq (Juna Khan), who (said to be) advised the emperor in a dream to name it after him. Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq selected the gems of all the trades and learning's from Delhi and asked them to shift to Jaunpur with attractive scholarships and pensions. Thus the foundation of the city was laid with the selected persons of all the trades and learning's.Soon, the City became very popular and developed as an academic (Islamic) centre during the period of the Sharqiya Kings. There were great number of Ulema, learned persons and scholars. They used to invite famous Ulema, men of letters and artisans to the Court and grant them pensions and jagirs (property) for their maintenance. It is said that, there were 1700 Ulema in Jaunpur during the reign of Sultan Hussain Sharqi, who later became a devoted admirer and follower of Hazrath Syed Mohammed AHS. There were also a number of Schools, Universities and Masjids in Jaunpur at that time. Thus, it became very famous as a centre for Islamic studies in the East, easily comparable to the city of Shiraz in the Middle East, and hence named as Shiraz-e-Hind. Till date, there are many ancient Masajids in Jaunpur which attracts the Tourists, like; Jama Masjid, Lal Darwaza Masjid, Atala Masjid etc.
Many Sufi Saints were residing in the holy city of Jaunpur, such as; Hazrath Shaikh Daniyal Chishti RH. The Islamic scholars of the city were popular among the Arab and non-Arab Muslims alike. The books written here were used as books for reference, teaching and research and were included in the syllabi of the Universities worldwide. Thus it was a place, regarded and respected as a place of scholars, sufis, Aulias, literature and books all over the world.
No historian of ancient India had failed to mention the glory of Jaunpur with special reference to its eminence in the field of Islamic studies.
It would be appropriate to give few quotations, supporting the above statements
Nrender Nath Laa writes in 'Promotion of learning's in India during Mohammedan Rule' :- "During lbrahim's reign (1402-1440 AD) the court of Jaunpur far outshone that of Delhi and was the resort of all the learned men of the east".
F.A. Keay writes in 'Indian education in Ancient and later Times' that :- "the place in India which was most famous in its days as a Mohammedan place of learning was Jaunpur. It was comparable to Shiraz in Persia and was called as the Shiraz of India".
In the Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume IV, published from Oxford in 1908 AD, it is written that; "Jaunpur remained the seat of Governor till the reorganisation of the empire by Akbar, who raised Allahabad to the position of a provincial capital. From that time Jaunpur declined in political importance though retained some of its former reputation as a centre of Mohammedan learning, which had gained for it the title 'Shiraz of India'."
Farishta has named Jaunpur as the second Delhi.
Shahjahan, the fifth Moghal emperor called Jaunpur the Shiraz of his empire.
When Humayun reached Iran during his exile, the king of Iran, Shah Tahmasap Shah first enquired about Jaunpur and its scholars and felt envied on learning about the progress of Jaunpur on Islamic studies, against the decline of Shiraz (of Persia).
The importance of Jaunpur as a centre for Islamic studies can be well assessed from the fact that it was called a University (Dar-ul-Uloom) in itself by the author of Tabqaat-e-Akbari.
After knowing the brief facts mentioned above, only an ignorant person or a person who intends to mislead others from Truth, could only deny "Jaunpur" being a "Holy City" in the Islamic History.