Past present: Mughal rule by Dr.Mubarak Ali

source = dawn.com

It is said that Chingiz Khan (1162-1227), the Mongol ruler, in his last days called his sons and gave them permission to convert to any religion of their choice. On his advice, some of them became Buddhist while others converted to Islam. The Mughal emperors were proud of this relationship and from time to time adhered to Tora-i-Chingizi, i.e. laws of Chingiz Khan. Perhaps, they inherited their religious tolerance from their maternal ancestors.

This tolerance is clearly evident in Babur’s case through several incidents. For example, when Babur sought the help of Shah Ismail Safavi of Iran to conquer Samarqand, the capital of Amir Timur, he was asked to convert to Shia faith. Babur, without any hesitation, accepted the offer.

However, his bad luck was that the inhabitants of Samarqand were not as tolerant as he was in matter of religion. The result was that as soon as the Imam recited the shia khutba in the Friday prayer, the masses revolted against Babur and he had to fly for his life. That was Babur’s last attempt to secure the city of his dreams, which he lost because of his liberal attitude regarding religion.

We find the same trait in the character of Humayun. When he was defeated by Sher Shah Suri, he also went to Iran and asked for military help to get his throne back. Shah Tahmasp, successor to Shah Ismail, also asked him to accept the Shia faith in exchange for help. Humayun accepted and he was luckier than Babur in that he did not face any opposition due to this act.

The Mughal emperors followed this policy throughout their long rule. When Babur decided to stay in India, he followed the policy of religious tolerance. In his last will and testament he advised Hymayun not to demolish any temple or to convert people, or slaughter cows. Humayun’s reign was short as he died after getting his throne back. However, this policy was observed by Akbar, who, following sulh-i-kul or peace with all, treated his subjects, irrespective of religion, on the basis of equality.

He was in search of divine truth and invited scholars of all faiths to come and discuss with him the teachings of their religions. The concept of House of Worship was a novel idea of Akbar. It provided him the opportunity to understand different religions.

When the Christian missions came to the court, he showed full respect to the Old Testament and kissed it in reverence. He allowed the Christian Fathers to worship freely. The religious discussions were open and freedom of expression was permitted to them, which, unfortunately, they sometimes misused. Such a liberal attitude was rare in the medieval period.

Aurangzeb deviated from this policy and used religion to fulfil political ends. After him, nearly all Mughal emperors were liberal in matters of religion.

Moreover, it was the policy of the Mughals not to convert people. They did not support any mission to change the religion of Indians. Jahangir issued a farman that only the state had the right to convert. The policy of conversion was that political prisoners were generally asked either to become Muslim or choose death. Therefore, according to Harbans Mukhia, conversion was a punishment and not a favour.

Marriages with Rajput ladies further changed the atmosphere of the Mughal court. The Hindu festivals of divali, holi, etc., were celebrated with pomp and grandeur. This led to the creation of a common culture and thus Mughal emperors became the symbol of Indian unity.

EXTRA KNOWLEDGE :  source = wikipedia.orgBABURNAMA  is an autobiographical work, written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as "Turki" (meaningTurkic), the spoken language of the Andijan-Timurids. Babur's prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary, and also contains many phrases and smaller poems in Persian.