| Awaken Bharata |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| SUFIS AND MILITANCE | |
| The
most liberal Muslim king Akbar, who advocated tolerance of all
religions, we should note, was influenced by liberal Sufis,
particularly certain Chishtis but took his liberalism further, going
beyond the bounds of Islam. Not only did the orthodox Muslims (the
ulama) oppose him, many Sufi orders were against him as well,
particularly the Naqshbandi order under the guidance of Ahmad
Sirhindi as already noted.
Akbar's tolerance therefore was probably not so much Islamic or Sufi but from a Hindu influence. The other liberal Muslim prince and eldest son of the king Shah Jahan, Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) inherited the tolerance of his great grandfather Akbar and perhaps took it further. Unfortunately his own brother Aurangzeb killed him for his lack of orthodoxy before he could become emperor. Dara's respect for Hinduism led him to say that the two religions were like twin brothers. This conclusion came, not entirely from his Sufi teachers, but from his own studies.One should note that most Sufis did not follow Dara and many Sufis criticized him for infidelity. In fact the fear of another Akbar drove orthodox Muslims and Sufis to have no mercy with Dara. The only princes who fought and died with Dara in his fight with his intolerant brother Aurangzeb were Hindus. |
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