signed his name for this was a matter which for several years he had been anxiously looking forward to. Further he did not omit to write out the cherished document with his own hand. It runs as follows: "Whereas Hindústán has now become the centre of security and peace, and the land of justice and benificence, a large number of people, especially learned men and lawyers, have immigrated and chosen this country for their home. Now we, the principal 'Ulamá, who are not only well versed in the several departments of the law and in the principles of jurisprudence, and wellacquainted with the edicts which rest on reason or testimony, but are also known for our piety and honest intentions, have duly considered the deep meaning, first, of the verse of the Qorán (Sur. IV, 62.) 'Obey God, and obey the Prophet, and those who have authority among you,' and secondly, of the genuine tradition, 'surely the man who is dearest to God on the day of judgment, is the Imám-i-Adil:* Whosoever obeys the Amír,† obeys Me; and whosoever rebels against him, rebels against Me,' and thirdly, of several other proofs based on reasoning or testimony; and we have agreed that rank of a Sultán-i-Adíl (a just ruler) is higher in the eyes of God than the rank of a Mujtahid. Further we declare that the king of the Islám, Amír of the faithful, shadow of God in the world, Abul Fath Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar Pádsháh-i-ghází, whose kingdom God perpetuate, is a most just, a most wise, and a most God-fearing king. Should, therefore, in future, a religious question come up, regarding which the opinions of the Mujtahids are at variance, and * Literally "the righteous Imám." His Majesty, in his penetrating understanding and clear wisdom, be inclined to adopt, for the benefit of the nation and as a political expedient, any of the conflicting opinions which exist on that point, and issue a decree to that effect, we do hereby agree that such a decree shall be binding on us and on the whole nation. Further we declare that, should His Majesty think fit to issue a new order, we and the nation shall likewise be bound by it, provided always that such an order be not only in accordance with some verse of the Qorán, but also of real benefit for the nation; and further, that any opposition on the part of the subjects to such an order as passed by His Majesty, shall involve damnation in the world to come, and loss of religion and property in this life. This document has been written by us with honest intentions, for the glory of God, and the propagation of the Islám, and is signed by us, the principal 'Ulama and lawyers, in the month of Rajab of the year 987 of the Hijrah."* The above decree conferred on the emperor the spiritual headship of his empire, its importance is however not to be exaggerated, although it actually invests the emperor with powers of a Judge of final appeal. Its real value lies in its manifestation of the weakness of the 'Ulama who could thus allow the weapon of the Mujtahid to be wrested from their hands. The decree was indeed their funeral oration. Attentive perusal reveals unmistakeably the scorn and contempt which it pours upon the priestly caste. Truly the 'Ulama must have abnegated their convictions before they could describe Akbar the "heretic," *Blochmann 1. c. p. 186-7, Rehatsek 1. c. p. 31-2. as the most Muhammedan of kings! From the date of the publication of the decree the breach between them and the emperor was irremediable. One blow followed on another until the proud structure of ecclesiastical ascendency fell battered to ruin. A short time before the publication Akbar announced his approaching accession of honour by mounting the pulpit of the Jamí 1 Jumáda-1 aw- Masjid of Fathpúr, on Friday the 26th of June 1579 and reciting from it the Khutbah. Badáoní says the emperor became embarrassed and stammered so that he was unable to finish reciting the poem which Faizi had composed for the occasion, and was compelled to hand over the duties to the officiating priest. The verses have been preserved and are as follows: wal 987 H. "The Lord has given me the empire, "And a wise heart, and a strong arm, "He has guided me in righteousness and justice, "And has removed from my thoughts everything but justice : "His praise surpasses man's understanding, "Great is his power, Alláhu Akbar." In truth the concluding words cannot but have been an abomination to the pious. 15 Rajab 987 H. The emperor's regularity in performing the pious duty of pilgrimage has already been mentioned; on the 7th September 1579 he as usual, undertook one to Ajmír but this was in the eyes of the strict believers a mere empty form. With scathing scorn Badáoní writes of infidels who yet dismounted at a distance of five kos from Ajmír and entered the place on foot. In the course of the same year, Akbar's most zealous and formidable adversaríes, the Makhdúm ul Mulk and Shaikh 'Abdunnabí were sent into banishment. The emperor counselled them to gratify their long-cherished wish to perform a pilgrim age to Mekka, a species of exile much in favour at the mughul court. To Shaikh 'Abdunnabí were entrusted large sums of money for distribution to the poor of the holy city. By this departure of their leaders the 'Ulamá was left without guidance, and the deserted ranks fell into the utmost confusion. Sultán Khwajah Naqshbandí was appointed Çadr Jahán in place of 'Abdunnabí. The war of annihilation against the supremacy of the Islam was now waged openly. Muhammadanism was no longer to remain the State religion, on the contrary all priority in matters of faith was to disappear. Akbar's dislike of everything Arabian blazed up: "he despised," says Bádaoní," the ordinances of the Qorân as opposed to reason and as being modern, and their founder as one of those poor Arabs, whom he called malefactors and brigands." Names such as Muhammad and Ahmad were either concealed or changed by their owners. Akbar asserted that the Qorán was a created work, a statement which called down a storm of indignation from the orthodox who believe that it has existed from eternity. He cast doubt upon the prophesies of Muhammad, denied the existence of angels and genii, and no longer recognised the miracles of the Prophet. He and his adherents advocated metempsychosis as the true conception of the future of the soul after death, and they denied every other form of immortality. It is worthy of note that Akbar rejected the notions current as to rewards and punishments in the next world and regarded as valid only the doctrine of purification by transmigration (page 314), an evidence of deeper moral intuition in the great king who thus rejected the huckstering ethical * So, too, Lessing maintained the possibility of this doctrine which appears under the most manifold forms. See also Goldstücker 1. c. vol. I. p. 205 et seq. B., E. A. 21 bargain which two hundred years after his time was annihilated by the criticism of the sage of Königsberg.† One of Akbar's innovations was the prohibition of the use of the formula, "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet," and the substitution of the words, "There is no God but God, and Akbar is his vicegerent." This change was another blow dealt at the Islám; there was reason to fear that the new formula might excite discontent among the superstitious masses of the people, its use was therefore restricted to the palace. Now too the chroniclers who had adopted Akbar's tenets began their pages with the oftrepeated "Alláhu Akbar" instead of with the time-honoured "Bismillah."-"In the name of God." Rájá Bír Bar was one of the wittiest and most active of the emperor's disciples (page 145). He attacked the imperfections of the Islám with unsparing severity and his consequence as an adversary is attested by the execrations of the bigots against him as "that hellhound" and "bastard" as well as by their truly characteristic satisfaction in his death. He was not content with deriding the rigidly-orthodox among the moslims, he poured the caustic humour of his irony also over the ossified dogmatism of the bráhmans. He was an oriental liberal of genuine stamp and equally ready for a polemical discussion and a trial of skill upon the lute. The old-fashioned warriors such as Shahbáz Khán remained true to their faith and declined Akbar's invitation to desert the "hypocrisy of the true religion." On one occasion, Shahbáz Khán ventured to engage with Bír Bar in a bout of argument and as the sturdy, † See the acute amplifications of E. V. Hartmann, Phänomenologie de sittlichen Bewusstseins vol. I.: Die transcendente positiv-eudämonistische Moral, p. 24 et seq. and esp. from p. 27 on wards. |