Mughal Administration c6.s1.7

c6.s1.7

The Mughal Emperors, like all other Islamic sovereigns, had to play a twofold part; *viz.*, to govern all the people in their dominions as their king, and also to be the missionary defender and agent of the creed of a *section* of their subjects. Therefore, from the Muhammadan portion of their subjects they levied the *zakāt* or tithes, amounting to one-fortieth of every man's annual increase, which they were bound to spend for the benefit of the faithful only,—by building mosques, subsidizing pious men and theological teachers, endowing saints' tombs and monasteries, relieving Muslim paupers and providing dowries for Muslim maidens. This zakāt passed into the public treasury in the same way as the land-tax or the custom duty. The best illustration of the Emperor's headship of the Church and the State alike is furnished by the fact that in later ages the Muhammadan rulers abused their trust by spending the zakat on their personal needs or for the general purposes of the Government.