The Institutes of Akbar 128.7

128.7

Those who are acquainted with the religious knowledge and the piety of His Majesty, will not attach any importance to some of his customs, remarkable as they may appear at first; and those who know His Majesty’s charity and love of justice, do not even see any thing remarkable in them. In the magnanimity of his heart, he never thinks of his perfection, though he is the ornament of the world. Hence he even keeps back many who declare themselves willing to become his disciples. He often says, “Why should I claim to guide men, before I myself am guided?” But when a novice bears on his forehead the sign of earnestness of purpose, and he be daily enquiring more and more, His Majesty accepts him, and admits him on a Sunday, when the world-illuminating sun is in its highest splendour. Notwithstanding every strictness and reluctance shewn by His Majesty in admitting novices, there are many thousands, men of all classes, who have cast over their shoulders the mantel of belief, and look upon their conversion to the New Faith as the means of obtaining every blessing.