A study on universal peace and harmony in akbars religious policy with reference to din i ilahi and sulh i kul

These religious policies emerged from different internal and external factors and his success stemmed from his religious policy that was based on Sulh-i Kul universal peace and harmony b

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A Study on Universal Peace and Harmony in Akbar's Religious Policy (with Reference to Din-I-Ilahi and Sulh-i Kul)

Nguyen Tran Tien*

Abstract: Abu‟l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar popularly known as Akbar the Great

(1556-1605) is considered as one of the greatest Mughal emperors for his achievements in the military, politics, and administration In fact, he was the real founder of the empire after his victory at the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556 AD The victory has paved the way for Akbar to become the sole emperor in the Indian sub-continent and continued to wage wars against the Hindu rajahs During his reign, Akbar was credited with his liberal ideas and religious policies These religious policies emerged from different internal and external factors and his success stemmed from his religious policy that was based on Sulh-i Kul (universal peace and harmony between all his subjects regardless with their social, ethical or religious identities) In 1582 A.D, he propounded a new religious ideology namely the Din-i Ilahi (Religion of God) This was a syncretic religious movement and was one of the most substantial dimensions of mutual interaction and relationship between Hinduism and Islam

This paper aims to examine the factors influencing Akbar’s religious policy and to critically analyze Akbar’s Din-i-Ilahi and Sulh-i Kul by dealing with its basic features and virtues which shaped his attitudes towards other religious and social groups

Keywords: Mughal empire; Akbar; religious policy; Din-i-Ilahi; Sulh-i Kul

Received 5 th March 2018; Revised 2 nd April 2018; Accepted 30 th April 2018

1 Introduction *

The Mughal empire was a great Muslim

power in the Indian subcontinent The

advent of the Mughal rule in India brought

in the rich culture and ethical changes

Historically, the Mughal era can be divided

into two periods, namely the consolidation

and glory period (1526-1707) and the

decline period (1707-1857) During the

glorious period of the empire‟s history, India

was ruled by Babur, Humayun, Akbar,

Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb The

*

VNU-University of Social Sciences and Humanities,

Ha Noi, Viet Nam; email: ntrantienussh@gmail.com

second half of Mughal‟s period witnessed the decline of the Mughals, particularly after the demise of Aurangzeb in 1707 at a time when the Mughal empire was weak and besieged by serious resistance from the Hindus, power struggle among the royals, weakness, and incompetence of the rulers and invasion and intervention by foreign powers, particularly from Europe

Among the Mughal emperors, Akbar was not only a great conqueror but a capable organizer and a great administrator as well

In 1556 AD, a 13-year-old boy who would come to be known as Akbar the Great assumed the throne of the Mughal Empire With “bright flashing eyes,” a legendary military prowess, and a distinctly strong

personality, “one could easily recognize

even at first glance he was King” (Tancred

Borenius 1943: 68) He set up a host of

institutions that proved to be the foundation

of an administrative system that operated

even in British India (Thorpe 2009: 76)

Akbar‟s rule also stands out due to his

liberal policies towards the non-Muslims,

his religious innovations, the land revenue

system and Mansabdari system became the

basis of Mughal military organization and

civil administration Akbar‟s ability to

mobilize the Mughal army and conquer

Hindu kingdoms one by one undefeated was

a feat not attained by anybody before him

Because of this achievement, Akbar was

recognized as the greatest Mughal ruler and

given the accolade „Akbar The Great‟

Many historians agreed that Akbar was

the greatest Mughal Emperor of all (Lee

2010: 51) Akbar consolidated his empire by

marrying Hindu princesses from Rajputana

and other powerful Hindu provinces He

also founded his own Sufi order dedicated to

“divine monotheism” and wanted to found a

society based on “universal peace.” This is

attributed to Mughal‟s achievement during

his rule which saw the empire extended to

the entire of India.1 As a strong personality

and a notable ruler, Akbar gradually

expanded the empire to annex Afghanistan

with the Indian peninsula To unite the vast

empire as well as to protect peace and order

in a culturally and religiously diverse state,

he adopted a distinctive political and

religious policy Akbar first established his

control over the scattered land then weld his

collection of different states, different races

and different religions into a whole For

achieving this aim, Akbar firstly improved a

1 See more: Bosworth, C.E 1967 The Islamic Dynasties:

A Chronological and Genealogical Handbook

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

religious policy and did his socio-cultural reforms Akbar was tolerating other religions He did not discriminate other religions but focused on the ideas of peace, unity, and tolerance Akbar accepted all his subjects equally regardless of their religious identities and cultural backgrounds This religious policy was based on the doctrine of Sulh-i Kul which means universal peace as well as tolerance for every individual and considered himself the ruler of all of his subjects, including Muslims, Hindus, and followers of other faiths Akbar did not persecute not-Muslims nor attempt to convert them to Islam He observed Hindu festivals, sponsored and placed Hindus in positions in his court and army, and abolished jizya (the tax on non-Muslims) and became a vegetarian and quit hunting (a sport he greatly enjoyed) so as not to offend Hindus Akbar financed Hindu temples and established a “House of worship,” where representatives from all religions could meet For this purpose, he firstly fulfilled various significant implements regarding with religious social, imperial and political issues which had an important role in the development of his religious policy and thoughts (Rizvi 1975: 409)

2 Social and religious background for the formation of Akbar’s religious policies

The development process of Akbar’s religious policy was a result of his interaction with not only Muslim society but other religious groups as well as local prominent rulers His religious policy was considered as one of the most liberal exponents of the policy of toleration among all Hindu and Muslim rulers in India Therefore, to understand Akbar‟s religious policies, one should also pay attention to the

religious challenges posed to him during his

reign

Akbar, whose parents were followers of

the Sunni Hanafi way of Islam,2 was firstly

affected by his religious environment and

background The attitudes of

narrow-minded, as well as world seeking Muslim

ulemas, had an important role to shape his

religious mind and policy His early days

were spent in the backdrop of an atmosphere

in which liberal sentiments were encouraged

and religious narrow-mindedness was

frowned upon (Chandra 2007: 253) In his

childhood, Akbar had come in contact with

Islam and Sufism He was educated by

scholars who were the follower of Shia

tradition His childhood tutors, who included

two Irani Shias, made an important

contribution to Akbar‟s later inclination

towards religious tolerance From his early

age, therefore, Akbar was exposed to Sufism

and Shia doctrines (Habib 1997: 81)

It was also during his period that

conflicts were both inter-religious and

intra-religious One of the major intra-religious

conflicts was between the Shia and Sunni

sects Mughal emperors clearly had a close

association with the Sunnis but followed a

policy of tolerance, unlike their

contemporary Islamic states Meanwhile, a

large number of Shia migrations from the

Safavid state took place, which followed a

very orthodox policy Despite the high

salaries of the Mughal court and open-policy

of the state, the conflict between these two

sects intensified In the beginning, Akbar

was also inclined towards the sect of

2 The Hanafi school is one of the four religious Sunni

Islamic schools of jurisprudence (fiqh) It is named after

the scholar Abū Ḥanīfa an-Nu„man ibn Thābit, a tabi„i

whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two

most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad

al-Shaybani

Mahadawis The followers of this sect believed that the advent of a Mahdi or a messiah was forecasted and did not agree with the fact that the Prophet Mohammad was the last prophet This easily identifiable class was not well inclined to Mughal rule and could be easily be accused of disloyalty

as well as of unorthodoxy The orthodoxy saw them as heretics, but the Mughal state did not persecute them for a very long time

As a result, Akbar‟s religious policies were implemented in the background of such religious challenges, of which the most crucial one was the change in the relationship and the constant struggle between the emperor and the ulema

Akbar remained a staunch Sunni Muslim during the period 1556 and 1562 He continued the practices of Islamic tenets as a devout Muslim and prayed five times a day, kept fast in the holy month of Ramazan and honored the ulemas of Islam He never hesitated to punish the opponents of Islam However, his views gradually changed after

1562 and one of the other important factors was the development of the Din-i Ilahi, Akbar’s religious policy Din-i Ilahi was Akbar’s a special inclination and sympathy for the society of various social identities such as Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians as well as a close association with religious leaders like Brahmins, missionaries, monks, and priests With Din-i Ilahi, Akbar aimed to express his tolerance to all kinds of religious systems

As for the Rajputs and Hindus, his Rajput views and contact with Hinduism made an impression on his imaginative mind An astute ruler who genuinely appreciated the challenges of administering such a vast empire, Akbar introduced a policy of reconciliation and assimilation of Hindus (including Maryam al-Zamani, the Hindu Rajput mother of his son and heir,

Jahangir), who represented the majority of

the population He recruited and rewarded

Hindu chiefs with the highest ranks in

government He came into close contact

with the Hinduism and had regular meetings

and discussions with Hindu leaders He was

impressed by their strong philosophical

solution on the nature of man, the creation

of world and existence of god and then he

ordered to translate Hindu religious

literature and history into Persian As a

result of close association with Hindus and

translation of some Hindu sacred texts to

Persian or Arabic, Muslims began to obtain

some important knowledge on Hindu

religion and their history This process, on

one hand, enabled to some informed

Muslims to discuss with Hindus in a true

manner, on the other hand, caused to reveal

a new section among the Muslims who were

called “muselman hindu ve mizaj”,

Hindu-minded Muslims (Siddique 2001: 97)

Akbar’s deep intimacy with Hindus,

especially with Raja Birbal and some

converted Hindus like Bhavon played a

significant role to lead him away from the

orthodox way of Islam

From the beginning of the fifteenth

century, the Bhakti movement had created a

new religious and political environment in

India As a result, a lot of rulers in various

parts of India adopted a more liberal policy

of religious tolerance, attempting to set up

communal harmony between Hindus and

Muslim By the impact of Bhakti thinkers,

who particularly emphasized on the

devotion of Hindu gods like Rama and

Krishna, Akbar also appreciated the value of

Hindu gods and goddesses He made some

coins in which pictures of Ram and Sita

were engraved These liberation and quality

songs are sung by the teachers and popular

gurus of the Bhakti movement such as Guru

Nanak, Kabir, and Chaitanya These

outstanding and effective ideas of Bhakti leaders have also impacted the development

of Akbar’s religious attitudes towards others (Chandra 2007: 253) Moreover, in the process of improvement of his religious discourses and ideas other religious traditions and their imminent leaders such as Christian missioners and Jainist monks had

an important role (Siddique 2001: 109) So,

in order to understand his unique religious policy of the Din-i-Ilahi and to carry out a critical evaluation of his religious policy the factors impacted on his mind should be clearly analyzed

3 Akbar’s religious policy of Din-i Ilahi and Sulh-i Kul and its features

Akbar‟s religious policy of peace, harmony, and synthesis among all the religions did not emerge all of a sudden but after a long process This is the reason why his religious policies can be understood in diverse manners as representing a much wider change in Akbar‟s perspective on religion and the development of his religious ideas We can also link the changes that were introduced in the organization of the Mughal government and religious policy to the structure, composition, and changes under Akbar or a changing attitude towards the ulema and divides Akbar‟s reign in the context of his religious ideas

At the beginning of his reign (1556-1574), Akbar seems to be in agreement with the Islamic orthodoxy There is also a tentativeness in the manner in which he dealt with different groups He made serious departures from the traditional Sunni system

of government In 1562, the pilgrimage tax

on Hindus was abolished Abu Faz‟l informs

us about the abolishment of Jiziya in 1564 (a tax on non-Muslims), and also the abolishment in the practice of enslaving the

prisoners of war and their families These

changes had great political implications In

this context of the political challenges,

Akbar had to face the side of his Turani

nobility and had to look for new support

groups and he turned to Rajputs as possible

allies Jiziya was thus abolished in order to

win them over However, even after

adopting liberal policies as such, not all

Rajput groups joined him As a result, Akbar

had to change stance and took some

aggressive measures against the Rajputs in

1567 Also, in the same year, Chittor was

attacked, and in a Fathenama issued by him

after the victory, identified it as a jihad,

subjugation of the infidels In 1569, a

farman was issued to the Muhtasib of

Bilgram, to stamp out all kinds of infidel

worship (idol worship) in his pargana

Despite these policies were in favor of

the Hindus, Akbar remained largely Islamic

The nobility was also dominated by

Muslims His inclination towards the

leading orthodox Sunni personalities

prevented any overt break with the ulema

and he gave them full and independent

control over the religious affairs

Meanwhile, dominant scholars included

Makhdumul Mulk Sultanpuri and Shaikh

Abdul Nabi, were highly conservative Sunni

Mullahs This period kept Akbar quite busy

because of his several military conquests,

and reforms implemented in revenue,

military, and other sectors Thus, ulema had

full control over affairs and were never

satisfied with Akbar‟s concessions Under

these elements, the non-conformists groups

like the mahadawis were also persecuted

During the period of 1574-1580, there

gradually emerged a tangible change in

Akbar‟s religious beliefs In his early age,

Akbar had held a special interest in the

spiritual matters and felt that the orthodox

view of Islam was not giving him the

needed answers Hence, this was a period of intense discussions and introspection which led to radical change in his religious views that affected his future policies His growing awareness of repercussions of the traditional orthodox Sunni dominance over his administration compelled him to an active search for new solutions He, therefore, encouraged the emergence of a new elite group Furthermore, Akbar was very much aware of this diversity in the country of India It would not be possible for him to rule the country with the support of any one group As a result, after the Gujarat campaign, he had to bring all on one platform by establishing the Ibdad Khana,3

in 1575 at Fatehpur Sikri in 1575

With the help of Shaikh Mubark and his sons Faizi and Abdul Fazal, Akbar collected

a library of books on history, religion, philosophy and sciences (Mahajan 1965: 93) These were read out and explained to him by Faizi The result was that Akbar‟s views on religion became very liberal and he wanted to go deep in religious matters4 After long discussions between religious leaders, it was concluded that salvation is to

be achieved only by the knowledge of Truth and by following the precepts of the “Great Namus” i.e reason (Rizvi 1975: 411-12) In Akbarname the explanation of the emperor

on the building of the “Ibadat Khana” was

cited as follows: I have organized this

“majlis” (gathering) for this aim only that the facts of every religion, whether Hindu or Muslim, be brought out in the open The closed hearts of our (religious) leaders and

3 The term was translated as the House of Worship or house of worship, gathering for searching/realization of the Truth

4 For this he thought of providing a meeting ground for discussion between Sunnis and Shias as well as other religious groups such as Jews, Christians and Hindus held

in the presence of Akbar

scholars be opened so that the Muslims

should come to know (essentially) who they

are Because most of them, unfortunately,

are unaware of their religion (Rezavi

2008: 197)

The purpose of Ibadat Khana was to

resolve disputes within groups through

discussions Initially, it was open only for

the Muslim sects, but later it was opened to

the representatives of other religions and

faiths too The exponents of Hinduism,

Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and

Christianity began to be invited All the

scholars were given due respect Akbar had

a keen interest in the religious and

intellectual debates and discussions and thus

took part in them in the hope that he would

educate himself in spite of the fact that he

never got a chance to formally educate

himself Abu Fazl, the Grand vizier of the

Mughal emperor Akbar, and author of the

Akbarnama, the official history of Akbar's

reign recorded that these discussions very

useful, which according to him guided the

people away from the darkness and

enlightened them These deliberations were

not conducted only for the sake of inquiry

and search but most of the participants

hoped for a way to obtain favors and

promotions from the court As far as the

composition of the intellectuals is

concerned, Ibadat Khana included scholars

from across the religions Special efforts

were made to associate distinguished Sufis

with the activities of Ibadat Khana The

debates were open to the Shias as well,

Hindus were also being favored as the new

alliance was budding between the crown and

the Rajputs Akbar also invited Zoroastrian

priests, Jesuit missionaries, and Jain priests

to widen the scope of discussions However,

later we find that the confluence of different

ideas led to confusion and led the debate to

no conclusion Thus, as professor R.P

Tripathi says, ”[i]nstead of bringing credit, the Ibadat Khana brought growing discredit” (Chandra 2005: 171) Thus, Akbar himself became convinced of the futility of these debates and finally closed the Ibadat Khana However, for the time being, Akbar found that the debates in the Ibadat Khana were not helpful in leading to better understanding between different religions, rather they created bitterness Hence in

1582, he discontinued the debates

In 1579, Akbar became Imam-i-Adil or the final interpreter of Muslim Law5 and issued Infallibility Decree (Mahazarnama)

He views that if Muslim intellectuals will have a different opinion on an issue, then as religious head and ruler of state will choose any one decision However, his search for the common ground for all religions was not over He continued to explore and search for truth In this, he invited saints of different religions and had a discussion with them.6

In 1579, Akbar‟s break from the orthodoxy is also symbolized with the propagation of the Mahazarnama This document, like a petition, was presented by the ulema gave the Crown the right to accept any position in case there is conflict among the orthodoxy This made it clear that Akbar‟s position was higher than that of the mujtahid, the interpreter of the holy laws

By issuing this decree, Akbar was in favor

of weakening the powers of the ulemas and Mullahs (The term mullah is primarily

5

At the suggestion of Shaikh Mubarak, Akbar decided to become Mujtahid He was to act as the supreme arbiter in religious matters In 1579, Shaikh Mubarak produced a document in his own handwriting which was drafted in such a way that Akbar became the supreme arbiter in civil and ecclesiastical matters

6 After this discussion, Akbar came to conclude that the things are common in all the religions in term of basic principle and final objective This was a conclusion and the integration of these two led to the birth of the new religion ie Din-i-Illahi in the later period of his reign

understood in the Muslim world as a term of

respect for an educated religious man) He

wanted to combine in himself both political

and spiritual powers According to the

decree, Akbar became the supreme arbiter in

civil and religious affairs This declaration

was signed by leading divines Akbar

himself began to read the Khutba (earlier

read by the Imam of the Mosque) from the

pulpit of a Fatehpuri Mosque

Many historians had different opinions

on the meaning and its consequence of the

decree It is perceived as an infallibility

decree, influenced by papacy, stating that

Akbar was influenced by the Jesuit

propagators I.A Khan opines that Mahzar

can only be understood if we look at

Akbar‟s general attitude of promoting and

befriending the Indian Muslims He wanted

to show that he would not accept any

orthodox, sharia law which lacked a logical

reason S.R Sharma argues that Mahzar was

introduced to replace the sharia laws (Rizvi

1975: 157) Nurul Hasan has discussed

Mahzar at different levels in which Akbar

never sided with any one Islamic sect and

made the Mughal state all inclusive, unlike

the Ottomans who sided with the Sunnis or

the Persians who favored the Shia sect At

the political level, Mahzar made it possible

for the king to deal with the ulema and, keep

the nobility under his influence and also

placing himself above the sharia law

interpretations The real significance of

Mahzar, it seems, was that it was the first

effective declaration of the principles of

Sulh-i Kul which Akbar had decided to

implement firmly (Chandra 2005: 174)

Hence, we can see a final breakup between

Akbar and the ulema orthodoxy

During the period of 1581-1605, Akbar‟s

religious beliefs are defined by the

crystallization of Akbar‟s ideologies To

consolidate his political position and to

reach an understanding among his people, Akbar introduced the idea of a new religion known as Din-i-Ilahi (Divine Faith), a conception of a new religion combining the virtues of other religions It seems that Akbar wanted to utilize religion for his political advantage When the empire expanded and included people of different religious faith, it is necessary for him to broaden the base of the empire Therefore,

he tried to establish a composite governing class which would not be discriminated on the grounds of religion as can be clearly seen in the case of assimilating the Rajputs into the nobility7.He was accused of completely abandoning Islam and created his own religion of which he was the leader Meanwhile, the focus of Akbar‟s religious beliefs was his faith in Din-i Ilahi that based largely on the philosophies of Ibn-i Arabi After he acquainted himself thoroughly with the principles and practices of different religions through listening to the debates and discussions of religious philosophers and scholars and watching their lives Abu Fazl links Din-i-ilahi with the concept of Akbar being a spiritual guide of the people

He opines that the intention of Din-i Ilahi was to find a common ground between the din or the religion and the duniya or the materialistic or non-spiritual affairs

During this period, there was a negative discourse about Islam and it was argued that Islam with its own entire aspects was not a valid religion until the day of judgment Badauni opines that “According to Majesty,

it was settled fact that the one thousand years since the time of the mission of the Prophet, which was to be the period of the continuance of the faith of Islam, were now

7 The Kachhwahas were the first Rajput clan to join Akbar and also helped in the war against the other Rajput clans as seen in the Chittor campaign

completed, which he treated in his heart

(Badauni 1898: 327) After persuading with

this idea, Akbar seemed to change and

design ordinances of Islam The outcome of

his deliberations was the Din-i Ilahi at the

beginning of 1582 (Siddique 2001: 115)

The fundamentals of the teachings of

Din-i-Ilahi can be found in his ideological

beliefs and religious practices With

Din-i-Ilahi, all followers of the religion must

believe in the oneness of God and must

prostrate before Akbar Akbar is a viceroy

of God who always receives the guidance of

truth and strength In daily rituals, fire and

sun worship is encouraged Sunday is the

official day of worship The Islamic greeting

of al-Salam „Alaykum is replaced by Allahu

Akbar while Wa„alaykum al-Salam is

replaced by Jalla Jalaluhu As the head of

the religion, Akbar is prohibited from eating

all kind of meat or flesh and is forbidden to

have intercourse with pregnant women, old

women, the infertile and girls who have not

come of age These teachings were

implemented to make Din-i-Ilahi a success

to some extent However, it failed to achieve

its objectives because Muslim majorities

opposed the new religion which was

considered to be deviant and pro-Hindu.8

Followers of Din-i-Ilahi amounted to his

adherents who were mainly made up of the

officials at the palace

The principles of the Din-i Ilahi were

also indirectly referred to in

Dabistan-i-Mazahib in the chapter entitled “Ilahiya

Beliefs” It deals with a huge religious

discussion between Sunnis and Shias as well

8 The opposition even came from Akbar‟s own ulema,

among them was Mullah Muhammad Yazdi, who

supported Akbar‟s younger step-brother, Mirza

Muhammad Hakim, to be the new Mughal ruler,

considering Akbar had deviated from the true teachings of

Islam

as other religious groups held in the presence of Akbar The outcome of their religious discussions was to point out that only by the knowledge of truth and by following the precepts of the reason, salvation could be achieved Renunciation and non-attachment of the world; avoiding from lust and sensuality; refraining from adultery, deceit, oppression, unethical traits, intimidation, foolishness; and emancipation from the punishment of the hereafter and doubts about the truth are all dependent upon obeying the virtues The virtues of the Din-i-Ilahi listed as follows:

(i) Liberality and beneficence; (ii) Forgiveness of the evil-doer and repulsion

of anger with mildness; (iii) Abstinence from worldly desires; (iv) Care of freedom from the bonds of the worldly existence and violence, as well as accumulating precious stores for the future real and perpetual world; (v) Wisdom and devotion in the frequent meditation on the consequences of actions; (vi) Strength of dexterous prudence

in the desire of marvelous actions; (vii) Soft voice, gentle words, pleasing speeches for everybody; (viii) Good treatment with brethren, so that their will have the precedence to our own; (ix) A perfect alienation from creatures and the material world, and a perfect attachment to the Supreme Being; and (x) Dedication of soul

in the love of God and, very close a union with god, the preserver of all, that as long as the soul may think itself with the Merciful One until the time of separation from its worldly body (Mezahib 1904: 322)9

9 Though it is mostly ascribed to Muhsin Fani, the recent studies have been revealed that the writer of the text is not clear It is also argued some scholars that in fact this book seems to have been written by Zulfaqar Ardastani See

more: Rizvi, S A A (1975) Religious and intellectual

history of the Muslims in Akbar’s reign with special

However, one cannot see the Din-i-Ilahi

concept as being developed into a new

religion, as it had no formal rituals, beliefs

or the holy books like the other religions It

can be seen as Akbar‟s personal faith, which

he welcomed people to join in Therefore,

the biases of contemporary accounts, calling

Akbar a heretic has no basis This proves

that he did not abandon Islam, the

accusations were all from the bitter ulema,

who were complaining about the curbs put

on their revenue grants and political

ambitions and could not digest the fact that

Akbar had moved away from their influence

of an orthodox form of religion

The basic sources on Din-i Ilahi often

indicate the example of Birbal, a Hindu

voluntarily joined to the Din-i Ilahi, to

demonstrate Akbar’ s religious tolerance and

freedom (Lal 1966: 242) It is suggested that

Akbar made no attempt to use the authority

of the state to spread his religion As

tolerance for all human being is one of the

main core principles of Islam and it has

already ordered in various verses of Quran

On the other hand, it stated that such a

person had played an important role to

mislead the emperor from orthodox Islamic

tradition

Akbar, probably, became aware of this

Islamic principles and values As the

historical documents revealed, however,

Akbar was influenced by Indian culture and

other religious groups more than his Islamic

background Therefore, when declared his

religious ideas, he attempted to differ from

some Islamic concepts that are why he was

criticized by many Muslim theologians

Nevertheless, by examining virtues of the

Din-i-Ilahi it is possible to confirm that

reference to Abu’l Fazl (1556- 1605) Delhi: Munshiram

Manoharlal Publishers p 39)

Akbar benefited from basic sources of Islam, Quran, and Sunnah when he built his religious thoughts When he criticized some Muslim ulemas for their intolerance and unconsciousness attitudes, Akbar also referenced to “tahqiq” (sincere) belief of Islam Even though he introduced some implements against Islam, he continued to hold in high regard many Islamic institutions and utilized them when he proposed his religious ideologies The mutual interaction and close resemblance between Islamic values as well as his religious ideas, however, were deliberately and not overlooked by some scholars who had a bias or limited knowledge of Islam After Din-i Ilahi, Akbar introduced

Sulh-i Kul as the offSulh-icSulh-ial polSulh-icy of the empSulh-ire The dynamic element in Akbar‟s religious policy found its powerful expression in his anxiety to study religious orders other than his own Max Muller calls him the first student of comparative religions One essential condition for comparative religious studies is sympathy for all religions and antipathy for none (Singh 1996: 140) By propounding his doctrine Sulh-i-Kul, Akbar emphasized on the peaceful coexistence of people belonging to different religious communities But this liberal attitude was interpreted as hostility towards Islam by his orthodox critics (Nizami 1989: 215) Sulh-i Kul is an Arabic term literally meaning

“peace with all,” “universal peace,” or

“absolute peace,” drawn from a Sufi mystic principle, it described a peaceful and harmonious relationship among different religions In keeping with efforts to mesh the diverse populations of his realm, Akbar proposed unity and peace among all human beings The concept implies not just tolerance, but also the sorts of balance, civility, respect, and compromise required to maintain harmony among a diverse

population Jahangir, Akbar‟s son, described

his father‟s policy of Sulh-i Kul in the

following words: As in the wide expanse of

the divine compassion, there is room for all

classes and the followers of all creeds, so …

in his Imperial dominions, which on all

sides were limited only by the sea, there was

room for the professors of opposite

religions, and for beliefs, good and bad, and

the road to intolerance was closed (Shireen

Moosvi 1994: 123) Sunnis and Shias met in

one mosque and Christians and Jews in one

church to pray He consistently followed the

principle of “universal peace” (Sulh-i Kul)

„Sulh-i Kul‟ was his policy of

reconciliation and liberalism in religious

matters Sulh-i Kul was also the product of

the synthetic effect of the Bhakti and Sufism

and he was greatly influenced by his Hindu

mother, his guardian and tutor Bairam Khan

and Abdul Latif His contact with

philosophers and scholars like Sheikh

Mubark and his sons Faizi and Abdul Fazal,

his contact with Rajputs, his contact with

other religions and his political ambition to

expand and strengthen his empire with the

cooperation of all religions It was a liberal

philosophy, which translated as the

universal peace In fact, some scholars

identify „Din-i-Ilahi‟ with „Sulh-i Kul.‟ He

watched the good men professing different

creeds and „Sulh-i Kul‟ seemed to be the

only solution of developing harmony and

friendship among followers of different

faiths In the field of interfaith dialogue,

tolerance plays an important role in

constructive interactions, so the concept of

Sulh-i Kul has great potential relevance to

discussions of intercultural dialogue

specifically, and cultural diversity more

generally It meant to inform everyone about

the main spiritual truth This can only be

done by a sovereign who is a representative

of God Abu Fazl‟s Ain-i Akbari, put

forward the theory of Rawa-i- Rozi or the social contract between the king and his subjects It suggested that like a god, a king should not discriminate, in giving his rewards amongst his subjects, on the basis

of religion they follow The sovereign, thus, had to follow the idea of a Insaan-i-Kamil or the perfect man who adopts and favors the idea of tolerance Therefore, we find that the king, even if he did not agree with the ideas and practices of other religions, he should still uphold the theory of Sulh Kul and treat everyone equally Evidence of this practice comes from the fact that Akbar disliked and thought poorly of his finance minister, Raja Todar Mal as he was a devoted image worshiper and Akbar believed that the god was besurat (limitless or formless) Regardless of this, Akbar gave large grants

of land to temples Hence, the theory of Sulh-i Kul propagated by Akbar denied the temporal practices of the Din and wanted to replace it with the declaration of reason, rationale and also the rejection of superstition Sulh-i Kul was an idea which was a result of Akbar‟s experiences in while

he quenched his thirst of gaining spiritual knowledge over the years, by different media like being close with the ulemas, instituting Ibadat Khana, Mahazarnama, the heavy influence of Sufi Chisti silsilas and many others Thus, Sulh-i Kul was created

to describe universal peace, specifically with regard to interfaith tolerance and equal treatment for all, regardless of religious beliefs In the field of interfaith dialogue, tolerance plays an important role in constructive interactions, so the concept of Sulh-i Kul has great potential relevance to discussions of intercultural dialogue specifically, and cultural diversity more generally Given continuing religious conflicts matched to the reality of cultural pluralism, it seems useful to resurrect this historic term as a modern tool The concept