The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c10.s3.15

c10.s3.15

They also infused in the Mughal Emperors a spirit of tolerance. Babur appreciated the teachings of Guru Nanak,¹¹³ and on learning how much the people of the country prized their institutions, Akbar began to look upon them with affection.¹¹⁴ But the influence of Bhaktas on Muslim royalty and nobility should not be overrated; the influence of Sufis like Gangoh on them was much more. There is a tendency to seek and find influence of Sufism on the Bhakti movement. But there is no evidence of such impulsion. Muslim Mashaikh were as keen on the spread of Islam as the Ulama. No Sufi could say with Kabir that Mecca has verily become Kashi and Ram has become Rahim, or with Naudhan that Hinduism is as true as Islam. The Bhakti movement was an entirely Hindu reformist and resistance endeavour. All the Bhakta saints were Hindus. There is some controversy about Kabirs parentage, but the whole background of Kabirs thought is Hindu.¹¹⁵ If these Bhakta saints sometimes spoke in terms of Ram-Rahim, Krishna-Karim, Allah-Govind and Kashi-Kaba, it was to bring about Hindu-Muslim unity and to impress upon the neo-Muslims the futility of conversion. Else, they drew their inspiration from ancient Hindu philosophy and scriptures instilled into them by their Gurus or gained through intuitive consciousness.