Forum Pakistan

(Arabic: holy faith) A syncretic religion established in 1581 by the *Mughal emperor, Akbar. In 1579 the ulema at Akbar's court, including Sheikh Mubarak, Abul Fazl, and Abd un-Nabi, signed a *fatwa proclaiming the Emperor a *mujtahid. Din-i Ilahi incorporated *Sufi, Mahdavi and *Shia ideas, and also some pantheistic views typical of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. Akbar emphasized the undying significance of religious ethics in private and public relationships. The followers of the religion were supposed to be tolerant towards other faiths. Frugal, patient, pious and devout, they were never to resort to violence. They were to cultivate nobility of heart and mercy, and were to stay away from falsehood, greed and spite. S.M. Ikram in his Rud-i-Kausar asserts that this name was not known in Akbar's own time. Only Mirza Jani Khan the Governor of Thatta has mentioned 'Din-i-Ilahi of the Akbar Shahi' which Ikram holds was a sycophantic expression. This term occurs for the first time in Dabistan-i-Mazahib sixty to seventy years after Akbar's death.