The Jesuit priests have chronicled the duplicity of Akbar.
At the time of the Jesuit mission, they note that, Akbar wrote welcoming
letters to the mission while he was secretly engaged in the capture of the
ports held by the Portuguese. We learn from the writings of the missionary
Xavier that, Akbar has disassociated himself from Islam and that, he considers
himself to be a great prophet. He posed frequently as a miracle worker by
offering to cure the sick by giving them the water washed off his feet. These
remarks about Akbar, help size up his religious sentiments. He was neither
interested in Hinduism nor Islam and nor was he interested in Christianity but,
he strived to create his own religion which would enable his subjects to
perceive him in a divine light thus, appeasing his ego. He called this religion
the ‘din-i-lahi” which many historians have misconstrued as Akbar’s efforts to
unify all religions in order to promote peace. His intentions were far from
noble. His research into the comparative religious studies, enabled him to
understand the role played by Islam and Christianity in the spread of
imperialism. He dreamed of extending his power, beyond his territories through
a brand new religion of which he himself was the divine prophet. Fazl narrates
that,Akbar worked to make himself the founder
and head of a new religion, by combining various elements, taken partly from
the Quran, partly from the scriptures of the Brahmans, and to a certain extent
from the Gospel of Christ.
Fazl confirms that, Akbar
prohibited the use of the name of Muhammad in public prayers after the creation
of his new religion. He expected the citizens to enroll in the new faith by
sacrificing to him their property, life, honour and their religion. (Ref: Akbar The Great Mogol By Vincent Smith). The ritual
of initiating the newcomer into this new faith is well documented by Fazl. The
initiate places his head on the emperor’s feet while the emperor accepts the
initiate by raising him to his feet. The new recruit is then handed a likeness
of the emperor to be worn on his turban to remind him that, the emperor is the
supreme. People who protested against the new faith
were sold as slaves in exchange for horses. The whole scheme we
are told was the outcome of vanity and a monstrous display of despotism. “The
Divine Faith was a monument of Akbar's folly, not of his wisdom. His actions
throughout his reign exhibited many illustrations of both qualities.” (Ref:
Akbar The Great Mogol By Vincent Smith).
Fazl states that from 1579 to
1585, new mosques were not built and old ones were leveled. In this statement,
we find another clue. If old mosques were leveled, why wasn’t the jama mosque
in Fatehpore Sikri levelled? Was it because, the original builders hadn’t
intended for this building to be used as a mosque? The Emperor stayed in Sikri
till 1585 while the rules about demolishing the mosques were imposed in 1579
and yet the building now knows as the Jama mosque has survived. We can only
surmise that, in Akbar knew that the, original builders hadn’t built it as a
mosque.
Continued On:
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