The Institutes of Akbar 2.4.3

2.4.3

In the end of 1589, Abul Fazl lost his mother, to whose memory he has devoted a page in the Akbarnámah. The emperor, in order to console him, paid him a visit, and said to him, “If the people of this world lived for ever and did not only once die, kind friends would not be required to direct their hearts to trust in God and resignation to His will; but no one lives long in the caravanserai of the world, and hence the afflicted do well to accept consolation.” Religious matters had in the meantime rapidly advanced. Akbar had founded a new religion, the Dín i Iláhí, or ‘the Divine Faith,’ the chief feature of which, in accordance with Shaikh Mubárak’s document mentioned above, consisted in belief in one God and in Akbar as His viceregent (khalífah) on earth. The Islamitic prayers were abolished at court, and the worship of the ‘elect’ was based on that of the Pársís and partly on the ceremonial of the Hindús. The new era (táríkh i Iláhí), which was introduced in all government records, as also the feasts observed by the emperor, were entirely Parsi. The Muhammadan grandees at court shewed but little resistance: they looked with more anxiety on the elevation of Hindú courtiers than on Akbar’s religious innovations, which after all affected but a few. But their feeling against Abul Fazl was very marked, and they often advised the emperor to send him to the Dak’hin, hoping that some mismanagement in war or in administration would lessen his influence at court.