 Jamal Malik states that caste as a social stratification is a well-studied Indian system, yet evidence also suggests that hierarchical concepts, class consciousness and social stratification had already occurred in Islam before Islam arrived in India.The concept of caste, or "'qaum"' in Islamic literature, is mentioned by a few Islamic historians of medieval India, states Malik, but these mentions relate to the fragmentation of the Muslim society in India.Zia al-Din al-Barani of Delhi Sultanate in his "Fatawa-ye Jahandari" and Abu al-Fadl from Akbar's court of Mughal Empire are the few Islamic court historians who mention caste.