Akbars Religious Policy

AKBAR’S RELIGIOUS POLICY
“History doesn't repeat itself. The historians repeat one another”
Akbar had been brought up in an atmosphere surcharged with conflicting

religious influences. His father was a Central Asian Sunni given to belief in
superstitious mysticism. In his childhood he came in contact with Sufism
and from 1562, for eighteen long years, he made annual pilgrimage to the
shrine of Sheikh Muinuddin Chishti at Ajmer. His Rajput wives, his Hindu
officials like Todarmal, Birbal and Man Singh, scholars like Faizi and Abul
Fazl and the Bhakti movement of the sixteenth century helped in molding
his religious views. He developed a passionate love for philosophical
discussions and spiritual quest, which led to the foundation of the
Ibadatkhana (Hall of Worship) at Fatehpur Skirl.
It is argued and widely debated that all of Akbar’s religious policies were in
fact initiated to gain popularity from the masses, both Hindu’s as well as
Muslims (even though, technically speaking, there were no “Hindu’s” at that
time, but for the sake of simplicity, and to get a panoramic view of the
situation, I have used this term). But if this was a fact then he would have
gained mass popularity instantly only on the basis of religious reforms and
need not introduce several other reforms relating to revenue, military,
diplomacy etc. But he did all those not because he wanted to but because he
had to. It was one of his notions of Sulh-i-kul, which we will be discussing
later.
The exposition of Akbar’s religious policy was not the sudden outburst of
an idea nor a calculated political move. Its growth and development was
spread over the years. His policies would be discussed under four stages
each one, a step further than the last.
1. GOING AGAINST THE TRADITIONAL ISLAMIC LAW AND
PRACTICE
It is widely known that the Rajputs’ were known for their bravery and the
vigor with which they fought at the battle field. Akbar saw their zeal and
was so much impressed by their undaunted courage and valor that he
forthwith stopped the practice of enslaving the prisoners of war and their
forcible conversion to Islam. This was the first step of its kind taken purely
on humanitarian considerations by a Muslim ruler of India. Akbar won great
applause from the people, especially the non-Muslims, for this noble
gesture.
Akbar took the, most revolutionary step on March 15 1564, in granting

religious freedom to Hindus by abolishing jaziya. This was a poll tax,
charged from the Hindus in their capacity as zimmis, whereby they were
denied full-fledged citizenship of the state under their Muslim rulers. The
Hindu population was divided into three grades on the basis of their
economic standing: richest paid 48 dirhams, the middle class 24 dirhams,
and the poor 12 dirhams per annum. Akbar didn’t discriminate between his
subjects on the basis of religion; instead, he was eager to establish his
reputation as an impartial ruler of all the people.
The abolition of jaziya caused a tremendous financial loss to the state

exchequer. Akbar was even opposed by Muslim ministers and bitterly
criticized by the orthodox ulama for having violated the age old tradition of
the Islamic polity.
2. IBADAT-KHANA
Akbar’s next desire was to create a spirit of love and harmony among his
people by eliminating all the racial, religious and cultural barriers between
them. Under the influence of Sheikh Mubarak, he ordered in January 1575,
the construction Ibadat khana- the house of worship at fatehpur sikri. Here
he initiated the practice of holding religious discourses with the learned and
the saints of the age. To begin with Akbar
used to call only the Muslim theologians, including the ulama, sheikhs and
sayyads.
Muslim theologians were divided into two groups who did not see eye to
eye with each other in the matter of interpretation of the Islamic canon.
Sheikh Makhdum ul mulk and sheikh abdun nabi were the leaders of the
orthodox Sunni party while Sheikh Mubarak, faizi and abul fazl represented
the group of free thinkers and liberal minded theologians. They failed to
arrive on at agreed opinions on many Islamic belief and practice.
Akbar when he realized that that the mullahs have failed to give satisfactory
answers to his yearnings for spiritual enlightenment. In disgust he threw
open the gates of ibadat khana to the priests and scholars of other religious
faiths, including Hinduism, jainis, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity.
3. MAHZAR
As a result of religious discourse held at the ibadat khana, Akbar’s belief in

the orthodox Sunni Islam was shaken. And it was the orthodox Sunni
mullahs who were holding predominant position in the state politics. As a
the first step toward curbing the power of the ulama, he removed the waiz
(the head priest) of the Jami masjid at fatehpur sikri and mounted himself as
the pulpit, and read the khutba in his own name as the prophet Muhammad
and his succeeding khalifas used to do.
The mullahs did not like the emperor to establish direct rapport with his
subjects, who according to them, were expected to communicate with the
mass only through the agency of the imams. Akbar did not pay any attention
to their voices and went ahead with his plans to reduce the power of the
mullahs in the state politics.
This led to a proclamation, called the mahzar in September 1579. It was

prepared by Sheikh Mubarak, and signed by almost all the prominent
Muslim theologians and divines of the Mughal Empire. It
recognized Akbar in his capacity as the just monarch, to be the imam-i-adil
(supreme interpreter of Islamic law). Previously the mullahs used to act as
the sole arbiter of all such disputed questions in their capacity as mujtahids
(the interpreters of Islamic law). The mahzar declared Akbar to be higher in
rank than the mujtahids. It is however clear from the mahzar that it did not
deprive the mullahs of their basic right to act as the mujtahids, nevertheless,
Akbar placed himself at their head as the chief judge.
It in fact placed several limitations on Akbar which were as follows:-
--should there a religious question come up,
--regarding which the opinions of the mujtahids are at variance,
--his majesty in his penetrating understanding and clear wisdom will be able
to adopt any of the conflicting opinions existing at that point of time,
--provided always, that such order be in accordance with some verse of

Quran and be of real benefit to the nation
--and that his judgment be based on sound arguments and reasons advanced
by various mullahs.
While acting in accordance with each and every one of the above
conditions, will Akbar’s decision be considered valid. The ulama fumed with
anger against Akbar and started accusing Akbar of having assumed the role
of the prophet. Abul fazl refutes the charge by saying that his theory of
divine rights of kingship should not be considered as playing the prophet.
According to J.L Mehta the mahzar was wrongly called as the infallibility
decree by Vincent smith. The mahzar did not give any original powers to
Akbar to proclaim a new religious law. Akbar was not permitted by the
mahzar to violate the fundamental principles of Islam.
4. DIN-I-ILAHI
Akbar was a religious minded and god fearing person, but being a man of
action, his attachment to the worldly affairs was very much real. He had
established himself as the impartial ruler of his subjects- Hindus as well as
Muslims, and had adopted secularism as hi state policy.
He was eager to weld all the Indians, irrespective of their castes, creeds and
religious beliefs and practices, into homogenous society. Thus national
integration was the ultimate goal of Akbar’s actions.
The outcome of his deliberations was din-i-ilahi in the beginning of 1582. It

was not a new religion, nor did Akbar attempt to play the prophet. His real
objective was to unite the people of his empire into an integrated national
community hy providing a common religious-cum
spiritual platform for the meeting ground. The din-ilahi, according to
J.L.Mehta, was a social religious association of the likeminded intellectuals
and saints who had transcended the barriers their orthodox religious beliefs
and practices. Abul fazl does not attach any importance to the din-i-ilahi as
being worthy of mention in Akbar-Nama. Instead he has mentioned other
titles for din-i-illahi, namely muridi (disciple), ikhlas-i-chahargana (order
of four) and tauhid-i-illahi. This way he formalized this institution so that
more people would come to know about it.
A person who wanted to become a member of this organization approached

abul fazl for the purpose. They applicant was presented to Akbar with turban
in his hands; he performed the sijdah. The latter blessed him by raising him
up, placed the turban back on his head and gave him the shast (his own
portrait) on which was engraved the phrase
Allah Hu Akbar. The illahias (member of the din-i-illahi) greeted each other
with the words like Allah Hu Akbar and Jalle Jalal-E-Hu. An illahia
celebrated his birth anniversary by throwing a feast to his associates and also
gave a dinner once in his lifetime. There were four grades of devotion to
Akbar as the spiritual guide of the illahias; these were in ascending order of
importance-property, life, honor and religion.
Akbar was an absolute monarch who claimed himself to be the shadow of
god on earth on the basis of “theory of divine rights of kingship”. That is
why that he had introduced sijdah as a custom in his capacity as the
zil-li-illahi, and not as a religious commander as founder of the din-i-illahi.
Din-i-illahi was not a new religion, it had no holy book of its own, no
priests or missionary organization to propagate it, and no religious dogmas
or beliefs to be enforced by it, he never compelled anybody to adopt the new
creed although it would not be difficult for him to do so. According to abul
fazl the total number of the illahias of all grades did not exceed a few
thousands.
CONCLUSION
An aspect of Akbar's religious policy that began several years after the
acrimonious debates of the House of Worship was on a different footing. His
attempt to set himself up as a jagat guru, the spiritual leader of the people,
was a political interpretation. His acts such as providing jharoka darshan to
his people every day before sunrise and that of proclaiming allah hu akbar
were seen as a way of popularizing himself and providing himself legitimacy
from his people. But he in no way wanted to be next to god. Therefore he
calls himself many a times as zil-li-illahi or the shadow of the god, and the
god himself.
Muslims were greatly offended by this and a reaction began against Akbar's
policy which was to destroy much that he had created. Akbar's failure was
also due to forces operating outside the court. At this time a great Hindu
religious revival was sweeping the country. It commenced in Bengal, but
under Chaitanya's successors, Mathura in northern India became the great
center of resurgent Hinduism. With such developments in the country
Akbar's efforts at religious synchronization were doomed to failure. Akbar
however, extricated India from the clamps of theocracy and endeavored to
fuse together the different classes of his subjects by bonds of common
citizenship and to establish a secular state.
REFRENCES:-
Mehta, J.L. - Advanced Study in the history of Medieval India Vol.2;

Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 1984,
Sharma, S.R. - Mughal Empire in India part I [1526-1781]; Karnataka

printing press, Bombay
Ali, Athar- Mughal India: Studies in Polity, Ideas, Society and

Culture; Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2012,
Chandra, Satish- Medieval India:From Sultanate to the Mughal

Empire (1526-1748) Part-2; Haranand Publications Pvt. Ltd (2006)

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AKBAR’S RELIGIOUS POLICY

“History doesn't repeat itself. The historians repeat one another”

Akbar had been brought up in an atmosphere surcharged with conflicting

Akbar took the, most revolutionary step on March 15 1564, in granting

The abolition of jaziya caused a tremendous financial loss to the state

As a result of religious discourse held at the ibadat khana, Akbar’s belief in

This led to a proclamation, called the mahzar in September 1579. It was

It in fact placed several limitations on Akbar which were as follows:-

--should there a religious question come up,

--regarding which the opinions of the mujtahids are at variance,

--provided always, that such order be in accordance with some verse of

The outcome of his deliberations was din-i-ilahi in the beginning of 1582. It

A person who wanted to become a member of this organization approached

Mehta, J.L. - Advanced Study in the history of Medieval India Vol.2;

Sharma, S.R. - Mughal Empire in India part I [1526-1781]; Karnataka

Ali, Athar- Mughal India: Studies in Polity, Ideas, Society and

Chandra, Satish- Medieval India:From Sultanate to the Mughal

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