-Bageshwar Jha
Whenever we talk about
the Mughal rule in India, some unpleasant issues including Zazia and forcible
conversion into Islam figure prominently. In this respect Aurangzeb is singled
out for large scale outrages. From Babar to Bahadurshah Zafar, there were seven
main Muslim emperors. Out of them, Akbar, famous as Mughal the Great, is
recorded in history as the most liberal. Did we ever care to go into the
reasons which shaped him to be so? Nobody becomes I liberal overnight. There
must be a number of factors including tradition and training to impart an
individual a liberal personality.
There were several
factors which stopped Akbar having a one-sided picture of life and propelling him to see the world from
other angles also. He, as such developed tolerant enough to know the views of
others as well. His father, Humayun was an orthodox Sunni Muslim.
On the other hand, his mother, Hamida Banu was the daughter of a Persian Shia,
God-fearing Maulvi, famous for his liberal outlook. He was equally dear to both
Shia and Sunnis in his circle. Similarly Akbar’s early tutor Abdul Latif was
also did not have stern religious
attitude and was being loved by his neighbours. His liberal religious
temperament left a permanent impression on his royal disciple. To add further
in the list, his guardian in course of his minority, Bairam Khan was also a Persian Shia. To cap
these all, Akbar was born in the house of a Hindu, Rana Virsal of Amarkot, who
was a close friend of Humayun.
When he became the
emperor, he built an assembly hall known as ibadatkhana inside the
Fathehpur-Sikri Fort in which almost every evening the Muslim scholars
discussed about Islam. But all the times these scholars, trying to dominate the
course of deliberations, bitterly fought among themselves which annoyed the
king and made him sad. Then he started calling the scholars of Christianity, Hinduism,
Buddhism etc. and encouraged them to express their religious views. This opened
his eyes and he decided to launch a new
religion, known as Din-e-Ilahi containing high gospels of all religions. It was
strongly opposed by the orthodox Muslim clerics and hence this experiment could
not attract public. But Akbar continued to give vent to his soft attitude
towards different religions. It influenced his personal life as well. He had
three wives – Hindu, Muslim and Christian.
If the above brief
account is taken into consideration, nobody would have any doubt in treating
Akbar as the most liberal Muslim ruler.
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