Akbar's Religious Policy

Akbar (1555-1605), the greatest of the Mughal emperors, was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I and is known for his rejection of bigotry. He was firmly of the view that an empire can last only on a basis of complete toleration.

Born in Umarkot into a Sunni Muslim family in 1542, Akbar had been brought up in an atmosphere where he came into contact with conflicting religious influences. Sufism also had an impact on him and he made it a point to visit the famous shrine of Shaikh Muinuddin Chisti at Ajmer every year from 1562, and continued this practice for eighteen long years.

Formation of Akbar’s religious views in some part was determined by the influence of his Rajput wives and his Hindu officials like Man Singh, Todarmal and Birbal. Scholars like Faizi and his brother Abul Fazal and the Bhakti movement of the sixteenth century also helped in moulding his religious views.

Subsequently In 1578, Akbar took the step of converting the Ibadatkhana into a “Parliament of Religions’. He became convoked that for a fruitful discussion on  religious matters there was a need for a broad base. He threw Ibadatkhana open to Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians and Christians.

In 1582, Akbar created an order known as Din-I-Ilahi ("the religion of God") . Whether Akbar tried to found a religion in the form of Din-I-Ilahi is a topic of debate among the historians.