Anyone has any info on deen-e-ilahi? I understand that it was founded by Akbar and was a secular religion. Would especially like to know how Akbar managed to integrate polytheism common among hindus with monotheistic islam.
yeah, I'm curious too.
Akbar has gone through three religious phases in his life. The first phase was of a strict Muslims'. However, he then started holding religious discussions amongst various religions, inviting Maulvis and Hindu priests. So ji, Akbar sahab was really influenced by all this and started hating petty, narrow mentality and decided to come up with a great religion of his own by mixing up the good points of each religion.
He called it Din-e-Ilahi and it stated that Allah is the Supreme Ruler and Akbar is his Khalifa on Earth.
So then you know what happened that it couldn't keep up much longer and Akbar came to his 3rd phase of being a good Muslim again.
Who says nothing is impossible? I've been doing nothing all my life!
Thanx HumSa, that was neat.
here's some more info i came across.
Din-i Ilahi
(Persian: "Divine Faith"), an elite eclectic religious movement, which never numbered
more than 19 adherents, formulated by the Mughal emperor Akbar in the late 16th
century AD.
The Din-i Ilahi was essentially an ethical system, prohibiting such sins as lust,
sensuality, slander, and pride and enjoining the virtues of piety, prudence, abstinence,
and kindness. The soul was encouraged to purify itself through yearning for God (a
tenet of Sufism, Islamic mysticism), celibacy was condoned (as in Catholicism), and the
slaughter of animals was forbidden (as in Jainism). There were no sacred scriptures or
a priestly hierarchy in the Din-i Ilahi. In its ritual, it borrowed heavily from
Zoroastrianism, making light (Sun and fire) an object of divine worship and reciting, as
in Hinduism, the 1,000 Sanskrit names of the Sun.
In practice, however, the Din-i Ilahi functioned as a personality cult contrived by Akbar
around his own person. Members of the religion were handpicked by Akbar according
to their devotion to him. Because the emperor styled himself a reformer of Islam,
arriving on Earth almost 1,000 years after the Prophet Muhammad, there was some
suggestion that he wished to be acknowledged as a prophet also. The ambiguous use
of formula prayers (common among the Sufis) such as Allahu akbar, "God is most
great," or perhaps "God is Akbar," hinted at a divine association as well.
Akbar is recorded by various conflicting sources as having affirmed allegiance to Islam
and as having broken with Islam. His religion was generally regarded by his
contemporaries as a Muslim innovation or a heretical doctrine; only two sources from
his own time--both hostile--accuse him of trying to found a new religion. The influence
and appeal of the Din-i Ilahi were limited and did not survive Akbar, but they did trigger
a strong orthodox reaction in Indian Islam.
Akbar removed the tax on Hindus, despite the traditional
mandate in Islam to tithe non-believers, and invited scores of religious scholars, including Hindus, Jews,
and Christians, to debate him personally in his private chambers, often late into the night. Akbar's wives
were also of different religious backgrounds - each marriage was thus a strategic union that would allow
the adherents of India's many faiths to feel that they too were apart of the royal household.
Over time, Akbar's fascination with religion grew to almost an obsession when he fashioned his own faith,
called Din Ilahi. Din Ilahi was an eclectic mix of the other religions Akbar had studied during those
late-night theological debates. He borrowed what he saw as the best components of each and blended them
into the melange that became Din Ilahi. The new faith, however, never caught on among the Hindus and
Muslims outside of his court, but despite this failure, Akbar continued to support religious tolerance
among his people.
must admit that i was dissapointed to see that deen-e-ilahi wasnt much of a success.
It wasn't a success cuz it got burried along side Akbar after his death.