CHAPTER IV.

tween Akber

and Abul Fazl.

Akber and Abul Fazl were certainly men of Relations be- genius. They are still the bright lights of Indian history. They were the foremost men of their time. But each had a characteristic weakness. Akber was a born Moghul. With all his good qualities he was proud, ignorant, inquisitive, and self-sufficient. Abul Fazl was a born courtier. With all his good qualities he was a flatterer, a time-server, and a eulogist; he made Akber his idol; he bowed down and worshipped him. They became close friends; they were indeed necessary to each other. Akber looked to his minister for praise; Abul Fazl looked to his master for advancement. It is difficult to admire the genius of Akber without seeing that he has been worked upon by Abul Fazl. It is equally difficult to admire the genius of Abul Fazl without seeing that he is pandering to the vanity of Akber.

Akber troubled by the Ulamá.

Abul Fazl's hatred against the Ulamá.

When Akber made the acquaintance of Abul Fazl he was in sore perplexity. He was determined to rule men of all creeds with even hand. The Ulama were thwarting him. The Chief Justice at Agra had sentenced men to death for being Shíahs and heretics. The Ulamá were urging the Padishah to do the same. He was reluctant to quarrel with them; he was still more reluctant to sanction their high-handed proceedings towards men who worshipped the same God but after a different fashion.

How far Akber opened his soul to Abul Fazl is unknown. No doubt Abul Fazl read his thoughts. Indeed, he had his own wrongs to avenge. The Ulamá had persecuted his father and driven him into exile. The Ulamá were ignorant, bigoted, and puffed up with pride and orthodoxy. Their learning was confined to Arabic and the Koran. They

ignored what they did not know and could not CHAPTER IV. understand. Abul Fazl must have hated and despised them. He was far too courtly, too selfconstrained, too astute to express his real sentiments. The Ulamá were at variance with the Padishah; they were also at variance amongst themselves. Possibly he foresaw that if they disputed before Akber they might excite his contempt. How far he worked upon Akber can never be ascertained. In the end Akber ordered that the Ulamá should discuss all questions in his presence; he would then decide who was right and who was

wrong.

troversies.

There is no evidence that Abul Fazl suggested Religious conthis course. It was, however, the kind of incense that a courtier would offer to a sovereign like Akber. The learned men were to lay their opinions before the Padishah; he was to sit and judge. If he needed help Abul Fazl would be at his side. Indeed, Abul Fazl would ask questions and invite opinions. He, the Padishah, would only hear and decide. Accordingly preparations were made for the coming debates.39

The discussions were held on Thursday even- Thursday even

39 It is a curious fact that the old sovereigns of India took special pleasure in religious controversy. The Chinese pilgrims and the Hindú legends alike bear evidence to this characteristic. It especially belonged to the age when Brahmanism was struggling against Buddhism; when the religion of gods and priests was fighting against a system of atheism and morality. The old Moghul Khans had a strong taste for it. Whilst recognizing the principle of toleration, they liked to hear Mussulmans, Christians, and Buddhists arguing against each other. The controversy held in the court of Akber originated in a similar spirit; it excited similar feelings in the sovereign and the courtiers.

This love for religious controversy prevails amongst some of the Rajpoot princes of the present day. They delight in hearing disputes between Bráhmans, Mussulmans, and Christians. For this information I am indebted to the Rev. John Robson, who was a missionary in Rajpootana for twelve years. Mr Robson is the author of "Christianity and Hinduism compared."

ings' discus

sions.

CHAPTER IV. ings. They were carried on in a large pavilion; it was built for the purpose in the royal garden at Fathpur Sikri. All the learned men at Agra were invited to attend. The Padishah and all the grandees of the empire were present. Abul Fazl acted as a kind of director. He started questions; he expounded his master's policy of toleration. Akber preserved his dignity as Padishah. He listened with majestic gravity to all that was said. Occasionally he bestowed praises and presents upon the best speakers.

Discomfiture of the Ulamá.

For many evenings the proceedings were conducted with due decorum. As, however, the speakers grew accustomed to the presence of the Padishah, the spirit of dissent began to work. One evening it led to an uproar; learned men reviled each other before the Padishah. No doubt Abul Fazl did his best to make the Ulamá uncomfortable. He shifted the discussion from one point to another. He started dangerous subjects. He placed them in dilemmas. If they sought to please the Padishah they sinned against the Koran; if they stuck to the Koran they offended the Padishah. A question was started as to Akber's marriages. One orthodox magistrate was too conscientious to hold his tongue; he was moved from his post.40 The courtiers saw that the Padishah delighted in the discomfiture of the Ulamá. They began to charge the Ulamá with inconsistency, trickery, and cheating. The law officers were unable to defend themselves. Their authority and

re

40 Akber had married more than four wives. The Sunnís are strict upon this point. Akber, however, was anxious that his Rajpoot wives should be on the same footing as his Mussulman wives. The Shíahs were in his favour. He became a Shíah.

orthodoxy were set at nought. They were fast CHAPTER IV drifting into disgrace and ruin. They had cursed

one another in their speech; probably in their hearts they were all agreed in cursing Abul Fazl.

aspires to be

By this time Akber held the Ulamá in small Akber a Shiah: esteem. He was growing sceptical of their religion. Khalif. He had listened to the history of the Khalifat; he yearned towards Ali and his family; he became in heart a Shíah. Already he may have doubted Muhammad and the Koran. Still he was outwardly a Mussulman. His object now was to overthrow the Ulamá altogether; to become himself the supreme spiritual head; the Pope or Khalif of Islam. Abul Fazl was labouring to invest him with the same authority. He mooted the question one Thursday evening. It raised a storm of opposition; for this he was prepared. He had started the idea; he exerted all his tact and skill to carry it out.

wedge.

The debates proved that there were differ- Thin end of the ences of opinion among the Ulamá. Abul Fazl

urged that there were differences of opinion between the highest Mussulman authorities; between those who were accepted as infallible, and were known as Mujtahids. He thus inserted the thin end of the wedge. He proposed that when the Mujtahids disagreed the decision should be left to the Padishah. Weeks and months passed away in these discussions. Nothing could be said against the measure excepting what would prove offensive to the Padishah.

breaking up of

Meantime a document was drawn up in the The document names of the chief men amongst the Ulamá. It gave the Ulama," the Padishah the power of deciding between the conflicting authorities. It gave him the still more

CHAPTER IV. dangerous power of issuing fresh decrees, provided they were in accordance with some verse of the Koran, and were manifestly for the benefit of the people. The document was in the handwriting of Shaikh Mubarak; Abul Fazl, Abul Faiz, and probably Akber himself, had each a hand in the composition. The chief men amongst the Ulamá were required to sign it. Perhaps if they had been priests or divines they might have resisted to the last. But they were magistrates and judges; their posts and emoluments were in danger. In the end they signed it in sheer desperation. From that day the power of the Ulamá was gone; they had abdicated their authority to the Padishah; they became mere ciphers in Islam. A worse lot befell their leaders. The head of the Ulamá and the obnoxious Chief Justice were removed from their posts and forced to go to Mecca.

Results.

The breaking up of the Ulamá is an epoch in the history of Mussulman India. The Ulamá may have been ignorant and bigoted; they may have sought to keep religious belief and the government of the empire within the narrow grooves of orthodoxy. Nevertheless they had played an important part throughout Mussulman rule. As exponents of the law of Muhammad they had often proved a salutary check upon the despotism of the sovereign. They had forced every minister, governor, and magistrate to respect the fundamental principles of the Koran. They led and controlled public opinion among the Mussulman population. They formed the only body in the state that ever ventured to oppose the will of the sovereign.

The Thursday evenings had done their work.