Fazal - Indian Political Thought PDF

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Indian Political Thought...

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FAZAL Islamic political thinking, based on the principles of Islamic fraternity, had accepted the sovereignty of the Holy Quran, based on divine Shari at, historical traditions of early Islam, equality and harmony of the ideal Islamic community and the acceptance of all human beings as creatures of Khuda, the one universal God. Medieval India had many eminent historians and among them Abu-Al-Fazal-Ibn-Mubarak or Sheikh Abul Fazl (1551–1602) occupies a place of distinction. he was a political advisor of the great Mughal emperor and he was also one of the navaratna’s of Akbar’s court.This is mainly because of the predominance of intellectual elements in his writings, his unfailing appeal to reason against religious and cultural traditions, broader view of history and a new methodology which he sought to apply to his task. His interpretation of history was integrally linked to the political, social, economic and religious realities of that period.1 He believed in innate equality of all human beings, he says that the source of our creation is same, so how can there be a difference between us. But Fazal being attached to Islam says that religion is something very personal to everyone and so everyone should get his own freedom and right to choose his own religion, he also says that religion cannot be determined by birth., he says religion is something what we acquire, not born with. Akbar Nama and the Ain-i-Akbari together constitute a single book. The first part of the Akbar Nama contains an account of Akbar’s ancestors, including that of his father Humayun. The second part gives the most complete account of Akbar’s reign up to the 46th year, in a chronological order. The Ain-i-Akbari is the third part of the book. It is a unique compilation of the system of administration and control over the various departments of government in a great empire. It also contains an account of the religious and philosophical systems of the Hindus, as described in their ancient books, and of their social customs and practices. Thus, Abul Fazl widened the range and scope of history as no medieval historian before him had done and his work is considered the most comprehensive account of Mughal administration and state structure. Governance and Sovereignty

In the political field, Abul Fazl can be compared with Barani of Delhi Sultanate. While both of them were concerned with social stability, Abul Fazl’s method of handling this concept was different. Ain-i-Akbari creates a theory of sovereignty promised on social contract. He drew a picture of society that existed before and then explained how sovereignty emerged. Divine Theory of Padshahat (Badshahat) and the Concept of Royalty According to Abul Fazl, Padshah therefore, means powerful, established owner who cannot be eliminated by anyone. The Badshah had a superior place in the Mughal Empire. This theory of Badshahat was a combination of Mongol, Turkish, Iranian, Islamic and Indian political traditions. According to Abul Fazl, ‘Badshahat is the light derived from God which has been sent by God himself. God throws his kindness on Badshah; who works as the agent of god’.13 A Badshah considered himself as the father and his subjects were his children. So it was his duty to make every effort for the welfare of his people and take care of every aspect of their life, be it economic, social, political, religious and so on. He should always treat his people equally to maintain peace and harmony in his empire. Abul Fazl told the new meaning of sovereignty as a divine light. According to Abul Fazl, sovereignty was in nature, a divine light and with this statement he seems to dismiss as inadequate the traditional reference to the king as the shadow of God. Sovereignty in Badshahat The king established his sovereignty by considering himself an agent of god and used his absolute powers according to the rule of controller, guide and state. Abul Fazl considered Badshah as the father of his people so it was the duty of people to respect him and obey his orders. But if the Badshah discriminated on the basis of caste, religion and class then he could not be considered a good king. According to him, the king had been given miraculous powers, it was impossible to challenge him and nobody could share his power. Toleration and Sulh-I-Kul- Doctrines of Peace The agent of God could not practice discrimination among the various faiths present in the society. He promoted the good values of different religions and thus assembled different faiths for maintaining peace everywhere. He had to sustain those qualities by adopting an appropriate religious status. After evaluating Abul Fazl we can conclude that a sovereign must have the quality of tolerance for the existing beliefs and he should not reject the traditional ways of his people which were necessary and complementary.

Division of Society Abul Fazl gave the concept of sovereignty and state in the context of the needs of society. On that basis he classified human beings into four categories as the warriors, artificers and merchants, the learned , the husband men and labourers. He put the learned class in the third place. He downgraded this class on the basis of existing social reality of his time. He also classified human beings into three classes on the basis of Greek tradition, based on their qualities as noble, base, and intermediate. Nobles were those who had pure intellect, sagacity, capacity of administration or composition of eloquence and personal courage for military duty. The base and intermediate sections included various professions. Justice It was also the duty of the king to provide justice to his people and always punish the wrongdoers and ensure that justice helped the innocent people. According to him, a king should be kind and harmonious while dispensing justice and treat his people as his children and himself as their father. He should keep it in his mind that he was sent by God on earth to ensure peace and justice for all. He is a medium for their welfare. He should always remain indifferent and take care that nobody was hurt by him. His decisions should be transparent and he should always try to make his reign a civilized society. He should take care of the basic needs of people. The king should try to place himself in the criminal’s shoes at the time of judgment. He should consider every aspect of those circumstances in which crime had occurred and give his decision only after that. If the king wanted to increase goodness of his state he should always give rewards to good people and punish the wrongdoers to inspire them to do good work. Abul Fazl’s Views on Administration Like Kautilya, Fazal also takes much interest in deciding the proper administration of the state. In his administrative views Abul Fazl gave supreme place to advocates among all the officers. According to him advocates should have those qualities which could solve both private and social problems of the king. in the Ain-i-Akbari empire is divided into Subas, Sarkars and Mahalls. He appointed a chain of officers at various levels who were controlled by ministers at the centre. In this system, the religion of the officers could not interfere in their administrative work. He systematized and centralized his administration. The Mughal state had a vast centralized patrimonial system. In this system they bestowed various kinds of ranks and hierarchies borrowed from the Mansabdari

system of Persia . These ranks had two parts comprising zat and sawar. Each Mansabdar had some rights (zat) and a force of horses to command (Sawar). The ruler provided him the grant of his strength. The Ain-i-Akbari mentions sixty- six ranks. At that time, the system granted gifts to the deserving. All the Mansabdars reported directly to the ruler. They also collected revenue on the behalf of the king and received salaries in cash. Religious Views Abul Fazl was not a blind supporter of Islam. This was the reason that he respected the Hindu religion and supported the participation of Hindus in governance and administration. It can also be said that Abul Fazl was influenced by composite culture of his time. Abul Fazl wanted the Hindus and Muslims co-exist peacefully. In fact Fazl did not think that Islam was superior to all religions while Barani and other thinkers regarded it as supreme. This was the reason that many people called Abul Fazl a rebel, a Kafir, Hindu or Agnipujak etc. His religious thoughts were based on secularism which considered all religions equal and believed in religious fraternity and Sulh-i-Kul (peace everywhere).50 He was considered an intellectual, a thinker who believed in the goodness of all religions. He liked rationality and innovations in every field. He says that every religion is interconnected, all are in some or the other way similar, they all propagate the same meaning. There is a kind of intolerance that has crept in the society against of each others religions, so it is necessary to solve the intolerance problem. AKHLAQ TRADITION This is an Arabic term about practicing virtues, values and manners in society which a human should have. This was the ideas of Qhwaja-Nasir-Al-Din-Qusi, Fazal was so inspired and he gave his own Akhlaq to Akbar. He said that there is a need to discipline and subordinate people, though all are equal, some king of umbrella is needed to check their acts. Then he tells about the importance of cooperation. If the king is good, fair and just, citizens will be the same. The king needs to be a symbol of justice.Then he says, that citizens can follow any religion. He also says justices is base of all social and political organizations in the kingdom, everything in a kingdom has to be based on justice. All religions will carry equal significance and people following them will be equal. The other thing he propagated at that time is equality before law, irrespective anything crime has have to be punished. He also says that intentions of king matters a lot, if he is intended to public good, help, virtue etc he will be an ideal king.

Conclusion Abul Fazl was Akbar’s trusted courtier. No wonder that Abul Fazl found in Akbar the qualities of a king, philosopher and hero. One may pick holes in his theory of social contract and more in his theory of divine origin of sovereignty since the two theories are not logically compatible with each other. the essential bedrock of rationality in Abul Fazl’s thought commands respect, even admiration. Certainly no one after him in India debated the issues of sovereignty at the same high level of reason and abstraction. Fazal has always been very famous for a kind of newness in his political thought about being a political thinker and being a humane centre, his thought was for the common man....