The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c5.s2.8

c5.s2.8

Feudalism in Europe gradually disappeared with the coming of Renaissance and Reformation, and formation of nation-states. In India phenomena such as these did not occur. There was nothing like a Renaissance in medieval India. There could be no reformation either, because innovation in religious matters is taboo in Islam. Some Muslim monarchs were disillusioned with the state of religion and the power of the Ulama (religious scholars).¹⁸ Thai is why, probably, Alauddin Khalji (C.E. 1296-1316) contemplated founding a new religion,¹⁹ Muhammad Tughlaq (1325-51) was credited with similar intentions; and Akbar (1556-1605) actually established the *Din-i-Ilahi*. Muslims feared that Alauddins new religion must be quite different from the Muhammadan faith, and that its enforcement would entail slaughter of a large number of Musalmans.²⁰ He was dissuaded by his loyal counsellors from pursuing his project. All the same it is significant that Alauddin Khalji and Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar did think of some sort of Reformation in Islam, but the former was scared into abandoning the idea and the latter contented himself by just organising a sort of brotherhood of like-minded thinkers.²¹ Such endeavours, strictly prohibited in Islam, could hardly affect India's Muslim feudalistic society.