History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c86.s2.26

v5.c86.s2.26

Thus, the orthodox Muslim ever felt that he was in India, but not of it. He durst not, for peril to his soul,—so he was taught,—strike his roots deep into his native soil. He must not take to his heart its traditions language and cultural products; he must import these from Persia and Arabia. Even his civil and criminal law must be derived from the writings of jurists and the decisions of judges in Baghdad or Cairo. [*Mughal Administration*, 2nd ed., Ch. 6.] The Muslim in India was an intellectual exotic; he could not like Antæus replenish his strength by coming in contact with his mother earth. He must not adapt himself to his environment. The Quranic precepts for the guidance of civil society and the regulation of human conduct and relations, were framed in a far-off age for a nomadic people. It was absurd, as a rationalist like Akbar argued, that they should be considered binding on men of the 16th or 17th century living in a country that had nothing in common with Arabia.