The Institutes of Akbar 134: Akbar publicly assumes the spiritual leadership of the nation. [Bad. II, p. 268.]

134

In this year [987], His Majesty was anxious to unite in his person the powers of the state and those of the Church; for he could not bear to be subordinate to any one. As he had heard that the prophet, his lawful successors, and some of the most powerful kings, as Amír Tímúr Çáhibqirón, and Mirzá Ulugh Bég i Gurgán, and several others, had themselves read the Khutbah (the Friday prayer), he resolved to do the same, apparently in order to imitate their example, but in reality to appear in public as the Mujtahid of the age. Accordingly, on Friday, the first Jumada-lawwal 987, in the Jami’ Masjid of Fathpur, which he had built near the palace, His Majesty commenced to read the Khutbah. But all at once he stammered and trembled, and though assisted by others, he could scarcely read three verses of a poem, which Shaikh Faizi had composed, came quickly down from the pulpit, and handed over the duties of the Imam (leader of the prayer) to Hafiz Muhammad Amin, the Court Khatib. These are the verses—
The Lord has given me the empire, And a wise heart, and a strong arm, He has guided me in righteousness and justice, And has removed from my thoughts everything but justice. His praise surpasses man’s understanding, Great is His power, Allahu Akbar!” [p. 269.]
“As it was quite customary in those days to speak ill of the doctrine and orders of the Qoran, and as Hindu wretches and Hinduizing Muhammadans openly reviled our prophet, irreligious writers left out in the prefaces to their books the customary praise of the prophet, and after saying something to the praise of God, wrote eulogies of the emperor instead. It was impossible even to mention the name of the prophet, because these liars (as Abulfazl, Faizi, &c.) did not like it. This wicked innovation gave general offence, and sowed the seed of evil throughout the country; but notwithstanding this, a lot of low and mean fellows put piously on their necks the collar of the Divine Faith, and called themselves disciples, either from fear, or hope of promotion, though they thought it impossible to say our creed.”
[p. 270 to 272.]
“In the same year [987], a document made its appearance, which bore the signatures and seals of Makhdum ulmulk, of Shaikh ’Abdunnabi, cadruççudur, of Qazi Jalaluddin of Multan, Qazilquzat, of Cadr Jahan, the mufti of the empire, of Shaikh Mubarak, the deepest writer of the age, and of Ghazi Khan of Badakhshan, who stood unrivalled in the various sciences.
The object of the document was to settle the superiority of the Imám i 'ádil (just leader) over the Mujtahid, which was proved by a reference to an ill-supported authority. The whole matter is a question, regarding which people differ in opinion; but the document was to do away with the possibility of disagreeing about laws, whether political or religious, and was to bind the lawyers in spite of themselves. But before the instrument was signed, a long discussion took place as to the meaning of ijtihád, and as to whom the term Mujtahid was applicable, and whether it really was the duty of a just Imám who, from his acquaintance with politics, holds a higher rank than the Mujtahid, to decide, according to the requirements of the times, and the wants of the age, all such legal questions on which there existed a difference of opinion. At last, however, all signed the document, some willingly, others against their convictions.
I shall copy the document verbatim.