AN INQUIRING SPIRIT

If Akbar had been nothing more than a conqueror and a notable administrator, he would still have held a place among the memorable rulers of mankind. What gives him a claim to special regard is the width and magnanimity of his views, his restless searching for the truth, and his readiness to believe that there might be truth in religions other than that in which he had been brought up.

The Mughuls were foreigners in India, and never pretended to be anything else. They were conquerors and bequeathed to all Muslims in India the proud conviction of belonging to a conquering race. Akbar, however, saw more clearly than his predecessors that the rule of his dynasty was not likely to continue unless it could be made in general acceptable to the majority of those over whom that rule was exercised. Conversion to Islam had gone on fairly rapidly, but it was already clear that the old religions were not likely to disappear, and that it was no more probable that all Indians would become Muslims than that they would all learn to speak Persian. If peaceful conditions were to be maintained, there must be some modification of such distinctions as were based on differences of religion, language and custom.

One of the first steps taken in this direction was the abolition in 1564 of the jizya, the hated poll-tax. In all Muslim countries, Muslims were exempt from payment of this tax.