Hindu Books > History > Initial Muslim Invasions And Of Later Regimes Of Sultans And Badshahs > Chapter 23 - Akbar : How Great Was He?

Akbar's Sham Religion One of the sinister fictions foisted on Indian history is that Akbar's angelic goodness is proved by his founding of a world order called Din-e-Ilahi. This is a complete perversion of truth. Akbar's haughtiness and ambition had reached such a pitch that he could not tolerate people doing obeisance to Mullahs (and through them to the prophet Mohammed) in the name of religion. Akbar asserted that he was divinity himself - the highest temporal and spiritual authority and that on no account must people pay respect to any other person. Akbar's insistence was therefore a negation of all religion, and an attempt to appropriate to himself unbridled and unrestrained power over the destinies of men and women. To that end Akbar compelled people to greet each other with the term Allahu Akbar which interpreted one way meant God is great but in the more subtle sense intended by Akbar, meant that Akbar himself is Allah. Smith explains (Pg. 127): "The use of the ambiguous phrase Allahu Akbar gave color to the most extreme criticisms. Even Abul Fazl admits that the innovation aroused much uneasy feeling. At times he (Akbar) allowed himself to fancy that in his own person he had bridged the gulf between the finite and the Infinite."

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