Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s6.t3.21

c6.s6.t3.21

The tenth *tālīm* also furnishes the first-hand account of the debates held in the court of Emperor Akbar. In the first debate brings out a very bitter fight between the Sunnīs and Śiyās. The author says that he has presented this debate at the instance of the adherents of both these orders and he only intends to examine the truth of each. The Śiyā scholar argued that the Sunnīs are non-religious because they do not consider the Prophet Mohammad infallible, and they treat him like a ordinary human being. The follower of Zudaism interferes here to support the Śiyā. But then the Śiyā also enters into an argument with him and establishes that the present scripture of the Zudaism is but an interpolation. He also narrates the tragic episode of Mohammad not being given material for writing to enable him to frame his will and declare his daughter and the son-in-law as his inheritors and illegal seize of the land belonging to Fātimā, his daughter by Abu Bakr. Sunnī gives a rejoinder here by pointing out that the prophets do not declare a will. Śiyā then accuses the Sunnī of character assassination of the Nabī by the way of making him dance to please his wife Ayesha. He describes various illegal acts of the previous *khalīfās* and the glory of Ali. The Śiyā and the Sunnī appear to be daggers drawn at each other and the Emperor Akbar orders for their being taken out. Next the debate of a Christian scholar with a Muslim is described. The former says that no Prophet named Mohammad is described in his scriptures, and cites the Christ having said that many untruthful persons will come after me claiming the prophethood, but they should not be believed in. On the contrary, the followers of Islam already regard Christ as a Prophet. Replying these allegations the Muslim alleges that the Christian texts have been tampered with. Upon which the Christian asks him whether he is in possession of the untampered texts, eliciting a negative answer from the later. Why don’t you respect the Christ just as we respect Musa? — he then asks the Muslim. The Muslim starts describing the miracles performed by Mohammad. The Christian retorts by saying that if such miracles happened, they should have been referred in the history books of all faiths. The followers of some other faiths then are called for to give an attestation to the miracle of the Mohammad, which they promptly deny. The debate between a Zew and a Christian is then taken up. The Zew asked his opponent whether there occurs any reference to Christ in Touret. The Christian in his reply pointed out that it is the text of his opponent that describes the birth of Christ from a maiden. The Zew said — Mariam is not described in our text as a virgin, she was already married to Yousuf. The Christian retored — this is true, but he had not even touched Mariam”. The Zew then shouted — how can you prove that? The Christain fell silent. In the next episode a wise person confronts with the representatives of various faiths — Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc. taken all together. The wise man challenged the validity of the prophethood of the prophets of all these faiths citing the following grounds — a prophet must always speak logical things, he should be civilized and not an oppressor. Musa killed his own foster mother by drowning her in the river, it is not correct to say that the river did not make a way for her. Christ had allowed killing of the animals and Musa was involved in looting. In this way the wise man found fault with all the prophets and decried them. Replying to him, the followers of various faiths started recounting the miracles performed by the respective prophets. The wise man pointed out the inner contradictions in their narratives and found fault with Hindu *avatāras* of Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, etc. also. In the end the text describes the new faith being proposed by Akbar.