Travels in India (Tavernier) 113: Concerning the religion of the Muhammadans in the East Indies.

113

The diversity which is found among the Muhammadans does not only consist in the different explanations which they give to their Koran, but also in the different opinions which they have of the first successors of Muhammad. It is from this that two sects, entirely opposed to one another, have sprung ; the one calling itself the Sunnis is followed by the Turks, the other the Shias, which is the sect of the Persians. I shall not delay here to say more as to the difference between these two sects, which divide the Muhammadan world, having spoken sufficiently of them in my accounts of Persia, and I shall only describe the present condition of this false religion, both in the Empire of the Great Mogul and in the Kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur.
At the first establishment of Muhammadanism in India the Christians of the East were very ostentatious but not very devout, and the Idolaters were effeminate people who were unable to make much resistance. Thus it was easy for the Muhammadans to subject both by force of arms. This they did with so much success that many Christians and Idolaters embraced the law of Muhammad.
The Great Mogul with all his Court followed the sect of the Sunnis, the King of Golconda that of the Shias, and the King of Bijapur had in his territories both Sunnis and Shias. The same might also be said of the Court of the Great Mogul, on account of the number of Persians who came to serve in his armies. It is true that although they regarded the Sunnis with horror they nevertheless follow, in outward show, the religion of the Monarch, believing that to make or secure their fortune they might conceal their true belief, and that it sufficed for them to cherish it in their hearts.
As for the Kingdom of Golconda, Kutab Shah, who reigns at present, maintains with great zeal the law of the Shias, and as the nobles of his Court are nearly all Persians, they observe the customs of the sect of the Shias with the same strictness and the same freedom from restraint as in Persia.
I have elsewhere remarked that of the native Muhammadan subjects of the Great Mogul there are but few in positions of command; this is the cause why many Persians, oppressed by want, or ambitious of better fortune than that which they can hope for in their own country, go to seek for it in India. Being clever they are successful in finding means to advance themselves in (the profession of) arms, so that in the Empire of the Great Mogul, as well as in the Kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur, the Persians are in possession of the highest posts.
Aurangzeb, especially, shows great zeal for the Sunni sect, of which he is so faithful a follower that he surpasses all his predecessors in external observation of the law, which has been the veil by means of which he has concealed his usurpation of the kingdom. When he took possession of the throne he proclaimed that it was with the design of insisting upon the law of Muhammad being observed in all its strictness, as it had been relaxed during the reigns of Shah Jahan his father and Jahangir his grandfather. To show himself still more zealous for the law he became a Dervish or Fakir, i.e. a professional beggar, and under this false mantle of piety made his way cleverly to the Empire. Although he had, as I have said, numerous Persians in his service, he did not allow them to celebrate the festival of Hosen and Hosain, sons of Ali, who were killed by the Sunnis, as I have mentioned in my accounts of Persia; and they themselves, to please the King and advance their own fortunes, made no scruple about conforming themselves externally to the cult and customs of the Sunnis.