The Institutes of Akbar 132.1
The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 132.1
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132.1.1
“During the year 983 A. H., many places of worship were built at the command of His Majesty. The cause was this. For many years previous to 983, the emperor had gained in succession remarkable and decisive victories. The empire had grown in extent from day to day; everything turned out well, and no opponent was left in the whole world. His Majesty had thus leisure to come into nearer contact with ascetics and the disciples of the Mu’íniyyah sect, and passed much of his time in discussing the word of God (Qorán), and the word of the prophet (the Hadís, or Tradition). Questions of Çúfism, scientific discussions, enquiries into Philosophy and Law, were the order of the day. His Majesty passed whole nights in thoughts of God; he continually occupied himself with pronouncing the names Yá hú and Yá hádí, which had been mentioned to him, and his ‘heart was full of reverence for Him who is the true Giver. From a feeling of thankfulness for his past successes, he would sit many a morning alone in prayer and melancholy, on a large flat stone of an old building which lay near the palace in a lonely spot, with his head bent over his chest, and gathering the bliss of early hours.’
132.1.2
In his religious habits the emperor was confirmed by a story which he had heard of Sulaimán, ruler of Bengal, who, in company with 150 Shaikhs and ’Ulamás, held every morning a devotional meeting, after which he used to transact state business; as also by the news that Mírzá Sulaimán, a prince of Çúfí tendencies, and a Çáhib i hál was coming to him from Badakhshán. Among the religious buildings was a meeting place near a tank called Anúptaláo, where Akbar, accompanied by a few courtiers, met the ’Ulamás and lawyers of the realm. The pride of the ’Ulamás, and the heretical (Shí’itic) subjects discussed in this building, caused Mullá Sherí, a poet of Akbar’s reign, to compose a poem in which the place was called a temple of Pharaoh and a building of Shaddád (vide Qor. Sur. 89). The result to which the discussions led, will be seen from the following extract. [Bad. II, p. 202.]
132.1.3
‘For these discussions, which were held every Thursday night, His Majesty invited the Sayyids, Shaikhs, ’Ulamás, and grandees, by turn. But as the guests generally commenced to quarrel about their places, and the order of precedence, His Majesty ordered that the grandees should sit on the east side; the Sayyids on the west side; the ’Ulamás, to the south; and the Shaikhs, to the north. The emperor then used to go from one side to the other, and make his enquiries......, when all at once, one night, ‘the vein of the neck of the ’Ulamás of the age swelled up,’ and a horrid noise and confusion ensued. His Majesty got very angry at their rude behaviour, and said to me [Badáoní], “In future report any of the ’Ulamás that cannot behave and talks nonsense, and I shall make him leave the hall.” I gently said to Áçaf Khán, “If I were to carry out this order, most of the ’Ulamás would have to leave,” when His Majesty suddenly asked what I had said. On hearing my answer, he was highly pleased, and mentioned my remark to those sitting near him.’
132.1.4
Soon after, another row occurred in the presence of the Emperor. [Bad. II, p. 210.] “Some people mentioned that Haji Ibrahim of Sarhind had given a decree, by which he made it legal to wear red and yellow clothes, quoting at the same time a Tradition as his proof. On hearing this, the Chief Justice, in the meeting hall, called him an accursed wretch, abused him, and lifted up his stick, in order to strike him, when the Haji by some subterfuges managed to get rid of him.” Akbar was now fairly disgusted with the ’Ulamas and lawyers; he never pardoned pride and conceit in a man, and of all kinds of conceit, the conceit of learning was most hateful to him. From now he resolved to vex the principal ’Ulamas; and no sooner had his courtiers discovered this, than they brought all sorts of charges against them. [Bad. II, p. 203.] “His Majesty therefore ordered Mauláná ’Abdullah of Sultánpúr, who had received the title of Makhdúm ul mulk, to come to a meeting, as he wished to annoy him, and appointed Haji Ibrahim, Shaikh Abulfazl (who had lately come to court, and is at present the infallible authority in all religious matters, and also for the New Religion of His Majesty, and the guide of men to truth, and their leader in general), and several other newcomers, to oppose him. During the discussion, His Majesty took every occasion to interrupt the Mauláná, when he explained anything.
132.1.5
When the quibbling and wrangling had reached the highest point, some courtiers, according to an order previously given by His Majesty, commenced to tell rather queer stories of the Mauláná, to whose position one might apply the verse of the Qorán (Sur. XVI, 72), ‘And some one of you shall have his life prolonged to a miserable age, &c.’ Among other stories, Khán Jahán said that he had heard that Makhdúm ul mulk had given a fatwá, that the ordinance of pilgrimage was no longer binding, but even hurtful. When people had asked him the reason of his extraordinary fatwá, he had said, that the two roads to Makkah, through Persia and over Gujrát, were impracticable, because people, in going by land (Persia), had to suffer injuries at the hand of the Qizilbáshes (i. e., the Shi’ah inhabitants of Persia), and in going by sea, they had to put up with indignities from the Portuguese, whose ship-tickets had pictures of Mary and Jesus stamped on them. To make use, therefore, of the latter alternative would mean to countenance idolatry; hence both roads were closed up. Khán Jahán also related that the Mauláná had invented a clever trick by which he escaped paying the legal alms upon the wealth which he amassed every year. Towards the end of each year, he used to make over all his stores to his wife, but he took them back before the year had ‘actually run out.’
132.1.6
Other tricks also, in comparison with which the tricks of the children of Moses are nothing, and rumours of his meanness and shabbiness, his open cheating and worldliness, and his cruelties said to have been practised on the Shaikhs and the poor of the whole country, but especially on the Aimadárs and other deserving people of the Panjáb,—all came up, one story after the other. His motives, ‘which shall be revealed on the day of resurrection’ (Qor. LXXXVI, 9), were disclosed; all sorts of stories, calculated to ruin his character and to vilify him, were got up, till it was resolved to force him to go to Makkah. But when people asked him whether pilgrimage was a duty for a man in his circumstances, he said No; for Shaikh ’Abdunnabí had risen to power, whilst the star of the Mauláná was fast sinking. But a heavier blow was to fall on the ’Ulamás. [Bad. II, p. 207.]
132.1.7
“At one of the above-mentioned meetings, His Majesty asked how many freeborn women a man was legally allowed to marry (by nikáh). The lawyers answered that four was the limit fixed by the prophet. The emperor thereupon remarked that from the time he had come of age, he had not restricted himself to that number, and in justice to his wives, of whom he had a large number, both freeborn and slaves, he now wanted to know what remedy the law provided for his case. Most expressed their opinions, when the emperor remarked that Shaikh ’Abdunnabí had once told him that one of the Mujtahids had had as many as nine wives. Some of the ’Ulamás present replied that the Mujtahid alluded to was Ibn Abí Lailá; and that some had even allowed eighteen from a too literal translation of the Qorán verse (Qor. Sur. IV, 3), “Marry whatever women ye like, two and two, and three and three, and four and four;” but this was improper. His Majesty then sent a message to Shaikh ’Abdunnabí, who replied that he had merely wished to point out to Akbar that a difference of opinion existed on this point among lawyers, but that he had not given a fatwa, in order to legalize irregular marriage proceedings. This annoyed His Majesty very much. “The Shaikh,” he said, “told me at that time a very different thing from what he now tells me.” He never forgot this.
132.1.8
After much discussion on this point, the ’Ulamás, having collected every Tradition on the subject, decreed, first, that, by Mut’ah [not by nikáh] a man might marry any number of wives he pleased; and secondly, that Mut’ah marriages were allowed by Imám Malik. The Shi’ahs, as was well known, loved children born in Mut’ah wedlock more than those born by nikáh wives, contrary to the Sunnis and the Ahl i Jamá’at.