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From the Tabakat-i Nasiri, written by court historian Minhaju-s Siraj:

Sultan Raziya was a great monarch. She was wise, just, and generous, a benefactor to her kingdom, a dispenser of justic, the protector or her subjects, and the leader of her armies. She was endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the right sex, and so in the estimation of men all these virtues were worthless. (May God have mercy on her!)

In the time of her father, Sultan Sa’id Shamsu-d din, she had exercised authority with great dignity. Her mother was the chief wife of his majesty, and she resided in the chief royal palace in the Kushk-firizi. The Sultan discerned in her countenance the signs of power and bravery, and although she was a girl and lived in retirement, yet when the Sultan returned from the conquest of Gwalior, he directed his secretary Taju-l Malik Mahmud to put her name in writing as heir of the kingdom, and successor to the throne.

Before this farman was executed, the servants of the State, who were in close intimacy with his majesty represented that, seeing the kind had grown up sons who were worthy of the dignity, what wisdom could there be in making a woman their heir to a Muhammadan throne, and what advantage could accrue from it? They besought him to set their minds at ease, for the course that he proposed seemed very inexpedient. The king replied, “My sons are devoted to the pleasures of youthm and no one of them is qualified to be kind. They are unfit to rule the country, and after my death you will find that there is no one more competent to guide the State than my daughter.”

It was afterwards agreed by common consent that the king had judged wisely.

When Sultan Raziya succeeded to the throne, all things reverted to their old order. But the wazir of the State, Nizamu-l Mulk Junaidi did not give his adhesion. He, together with Malik Jani, Malik Kochi, Malik Kabir Khan, and Malik Izzu-d din Muhammad Salari assembling from different parts of the country at the gates of Delhi, made war against Sultan Raziya, and hostilities were carried on for a long time. After a while, Malik Nasiru-d din Tabashi Mu’izzi, who was governor of Oudh, brought up his forces to Delhi to the assistance of Sultan Raziya. When he had crossed the Ganges, the generals, who were fighting against Delhi, met him unexpectedly and took him prisoner. He then fell sick and died.

The stay of the insurgents at the gates of Delhi was protracted. Sultan Raziya, favoured by fortune, went out from the city and ordered her tents to be pitched at a place on the banks of the Jumna. Several engagements took place between the Turkish nobles who were on the side of the Sultan, and the insurgent chiefs. At last, peace was effected, with great adroitness and judicious management. Malik Izzu-d din Muhammad Salar and Malik Izzu-d din Kabir Khan Ayyaz secretly joined the Sultan and came at hight to her majesty’s tents, upon the understanding the Malik Jani, Malik Kochi, and Nizamu-l Mulk Janaidi were to be summoned and closely imprisoned, so that the rebellion might subside. When these chiefs were informed of this matter they fled from their camps, and some horsemen of the Sultan pursued them. Malik Kochi and his borther Fakhru-d din were captured, and were afterward killed in prison. Malik Jani went into the mountains of Bardar, and died there after a while.