AKBAR. – Sultan of India, third of the Moghul dynasty. He was the son of Humajūn and the grandson of Bāber, the founder of the dynasty. Born at Umarkot in Sind on 15 Oct. 1542, he ascended the throne in 1556 and died at Agra—chosen by him as his capital in place of Delhi—on 10 Oct. 1605, leaving the throne to his son Selīm (Giahānghīr). A.’s personal name (which is nothing more than an honorific epithet or regnal name) was Abū ’l-Fath Galāl ad-dīn.
His father Humajūn had barely begun the reconquest of his states, of which he had been despoiled by the usurper Šer Šāh, when he died; the young prince, with the aid of valiant generals, succeeded in completing the reconquest of his patrimonial dominions, so that his realm embraced, in addition to Hindustan proper, eastern Afghanistan, Bengal, Kashmir, and a large part of the Deccan, thus reaching the most extensive boundaries ever attained by the Moghul empire. Once his state was restored, however, A.’s policy was not directed toward violent conquests but rather toward wise works of peace. His organization of the administration, and in particular of finances—with the abolition of the canonical tax levied on non-Muslims (gizāḥ) and the equalization of all subjects without distinction of caste or creed in fiscal obligations—is but one of the most conspicuous outward aspects of a policy of tolerance and broadmindedness, for which A.’s name is renowned. It was founded on the full equality of Hindus and Muslims (while the dynasty and the ruling class of the state were Muslim), and culminated in A.’s attempt to fuse all revealed religions, and concretely Islam, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism—the three religions to which the majority of his subjects belonged—into a single vague and pure nondenominational monotheism (tawḥīd-i ilāhī).
According to this conception, the one God, whose concept was stripped of every dogmatic specification and every ritual ceremony, was to be worshipped and served in purity and simplicity of life, inculcated as man’s supreme duties; and only as a concession to human weakness and its need for symbols were the sun and fire accepted as images of the deity. This theism seems to have had no followers outside the immediate circle of A., and never penetrated into the masses of the people. At A.’s death, moreover, his son Giahānghīr reverted personally to Muslim orthodoxy; yet the noble syncretistic attempt of the Moghul emperor remains one of the most singular phenomena in the history of Islam and of Oriental religiosity. Interest in this lofty and original figure of a sovereign, patron and promoter of culture, living in a courtly circle steeped in science and poetry (his prime minister and court historiographer was the celebrated Persian man of letters Abū ’l-Fadl ’Allāmī), is further stimulated by the curious fact that A. remained personally illiterate throughout his life.
With regard to his attitude toward Christianity, it is to be noted that he gave a favorable reception to the Catholic missions of Franciscans and Jesuits, and in general proved himself well disposed toward Europeans and inclined to establish regular relations with the Christian powers of the West.
AJAC
CIO – View of Bastia.