Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
Encyclopedia
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
of the great Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
emperor Akbar, and author of the Akbarnama
Akbarnama
The ' , which literally means Book of Akbar, is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor , commissioned by Akbar himself and written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abul Fazl who was one of the nine jewels in Akbar's court...
, the official history of Akbar's reign in three volumes, (the third volume is known as the Ain-i-Akbari)
and a Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
translation of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. He was also the brother of Faizi
Faizi
Shaikh Abu al-Faiz ibn Mubarak, popularly known by his pen-name, Faizi was a poet of late medieval India. In 1588, he became the Malik-ush-Shu'ara of Akbar's Court. He was the elder brother of Akbar's historian Abul Fazl...
, the poet laureate of emperor Akbar.
Ancestors
Abul Fazl's ancestors hailed from YemenYemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
and he was the fifth descendant of Shaikh Musa who lived in Rel near Siwistan (Sehwan), Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
, till the close of 15th century.
His grandfather, Shaikh Khizr, moved to Nagaur
Nagaur
Nagaur is a city in the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. It was founded by the Naga Kshatriyas.- History :...
which had attained importance as a sufi mystic centre under Shaikh Hamid-ud-din Sufi Sawali, a khalifa of Shaikh Muin-ud-din
Moinuddin Chishti
Sultan-ul-Hind, Moinuddin Chishti was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE. Also known as Gharīb Nawāz "Benefactor of the Poor" , he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the order in South Asia...
Chisti of Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
. At Nagaur Shaikh Khizr settled near the tomb of Shaikh Hamid-ud-din.
Father
Abul Fazl's father, Shaikh Mubarak, was born in 1506 at Nagaur. Soon after Fazl's birth Khizr travelled to Sindh to bring other members of his family but he died on the way. Khizr's early demise and a famine and plague that ravaged Nagaur caused great hardship to the destitute Mubarak and his mother. Despite these hardships Mubarak's mother arranged good education for him. One of Mubarak's earliest teacher was Shaikh 'Attan' who was known for his piety. Another important teacher who influenced Shaikh Mubarak was Shaikh Fayyazi, a disciple of Khwaja Ubaidullah Ahrar. Later he went to AhmedabadAhmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
and studied under Shaikh Abu'l Fazl Gazruni (who adopted him as a son), Shaikh Umar and Shaikh Yusuf.
Yusuf advised Mubarak to go to Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
and set up a madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
there. Mubarak reached Agra in April 1543 and on the suggestion of Shaikh Alawal Balawal set up his residence at Charbagh
Charbagh
Charbagh is a Persian-style garden layout. The quadrilateral garden is divided by walkways or flowing water into four smaller parts...
, which was built by Babur
Babur
Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...
on the left bank of Yamuna
Yamuna
The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...
. Mir Rafi'ud-din Safavi of Inju (Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
) lived close by and Mubarak married a near relative of his. Mubarak setup his madrash in Agra where his special field of instruction was philosophy and he attracted a number of scholars to his lectures such as Mulla Abdul Qadir Badauni.
The orthodox group of ulama was always dissatisfied with Mubarak and accused him of changing his opinion. Khwaja Ubaidullah who was brought up in the house of Shaikh Mubarak's daughter opines that Mubarak's views changed with the change in the political climate and he adopted the religious attitudes of rulers and nobles of those days out of expediency and minionism and thus he was a bitter Sunni during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, became a Mahdavi
Mahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...
during the Sur period, was a Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
during the reign of Humayun
Humayun
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one...
and a protagonist of liberal thought under Akbar.
Biography
At Agra Shaikh Mubarak's eldest son, poet Abu'l FaiziFaizi
Shaikh Abu al-Faiz ibn Mubarak, popularly known by his pen-name, Faizi was a poet of late medieval India. In 1588, he became the Malik-ush-Shu'ara of Akbar's Court. He was the elder brother of Akbar's historian Abul Fazl...
and his second son Abu'l Fazl were born. Abul Fazl's education began with Arabic and by the age of five he could read and write. His father started teaching him with a little of every branch of revealed Islamic sciences (manqulat) but Fazl could not adhere to conventional learning and he sank in a state of mental depression. A friend rescued him from this state and he resumed his studies. Some incidents from his early life reflect on his brilliance. A dictionary of Ishafani, which had been eaten by white ants came under his observation. He removed the parts that had been eaten and joined blank paper to the rest. He discovered the beginning and end of each fragment and eventually penned a draft text. Subsequently the entire work was discovered and on comparison to Fazl's draft the original differed in only two or three places.
He came to Akbar's court in 1575 and was influential in Akbar's religious views becoming more liberal into the 1580s and 1590s. He also led the Mughal imperial army in its wars in the Deccan.
Abul Fazl's own account of his first twenty years
The following is the Abul Fazl's own account of his first twenty years from the A'in-i-Akbari:As I have now recounted somewhat of my ancestors, I proceed to say a few words regarding myself and thus unburden my mind, in order to refresh this narrative and loosen the bonds of my tongue. In the year 473 of the Jalali era, corresponding to the night of Sunday, the 6th of Muharram 958 of the lunar reckoning (14 January 1551), my pure spirit joined to this elemental body came forth from the womb into this fair expanse of the world. At a little over one year I had the miraculous gift of fluent speech and at five years of age I had acquired an unusual stock of information and could both read and write. At the age of seven I became the treasurer of my father's stores of knowledge and a trusty keeper of the jewels of hidden meaning and as a serpent, guarded the treasure. And it was strange that by a freak of fortune my heart was disinclined, my will ever averse, and my disposition repugnant to conventional learning and the ordinary courses of instruction. Generally I could not understand them. My father in his way conjured with the spell of knowledge and taught me a little of every branch of science, and although my intelligence grew, I gained no deep impressions from the school of learning. Sometimes I understood nothing at all, at others doubts suggested themselves which my tongue was incapable of explaining. Either shame made me hesitate or I had not the power of expression. I used to weep in public and put all the blame upon myself. In this state of things I came into fellowship of mind with a congenial helper and my spirit recovered from that ignorance and incomprehension. Not many days had elapsed before his conversation and society induced me to go to college and there they restored to rest my bewildered and dissipated mind and by the wondrous working of destiny they took me away and brought another back.
- The temple as I entered, drew they nigh
- And brought their gift, a wine-cup brimming high.
- Its strength snatched all my senses, self from self,
- Wherein some other entered and not I.
The truths of philosophy and the subtleties of the schools now appeared plain, and a book which I had never before seen gave me a clearer insight than any thing I could read. Although I had a special gift which came down upon me from the throne of holiness, yet the inspirations of my venerable father and his making me commit to memory the essential elements of every branch of science, together with the unbroken continuity of this chain, were of immense help, and became one of the most important causes of my enlightenment. For ten years longer I made no distinction between night and day, teaching and learning, and recognized no difference between satiety and hunger, nor discriminated between privacy and society, nor had I the power to dissever pain from pleasure. I acknowledged nothing else but the bond of demonstration and the tie of knowledge. Those who had a regard for my constitution, from seeing that two and sometimes three days passed without my taking food, and that my studious spirit had no inclination therefore, were amazed, and stood out strongly against it. I answered that my withdrawal,was now a matter of habit and custom, and how was it that no one was astonished when the natural inclination of a sick man on an attack of illness was averse from food. If therefore my love of study induced forgetfulness, where was the wonder? Most of the current arguments of the schools, frequently misquoted and misunderstood when heard, and abstruse questions from ancient works, had been presented to the fresh tablet of my mind. Before these points had been elucidated and the attribution to me of extreme ignorance had passed to that of transcendent knowledge, I had taken objection to ancient writers, and men learning my youth, dissented, and my mind was troubled and my inexperienced heart was in agitation. Once in the early part of my career they brought the gloss of Khwajah Abu'l Qasim, on the Mutawwal. All that I had stated before learned doctors and divines of which some of my friends had taken notes, was there found, and those present were astounded and withdrew their dissent, and began to regard me with other eyes and to raise the wicket of misunderstanding and to open the gate of comprehension. In my early days of study, the gloss of Isfahani more than half of which had been eaten by white ants, came under my observation. The public being in despair at profiting by it, I removed the parts that had been eaten and joined blank paper to the rest. In the serene hours of morning, with a little reflection, I discovered the beginnings and endings of each fragment and conjecturally penned a draft text which I transcribed on the paper. In the meanwhile the entire work was discovered, and when both were compared, in two or three places only were there found differences of words, though synonymous in meaning; and in three or four others, (differing) citations but approximate in sense. All were astounded.
The more my will was engaged, the more my mind was illumined. At the age of twenty the good tidings of my independence reached me. My mind cast off its former bonds and my early bewilderment recurred. With a parade of much learning, the intoxication of youth effervescing, the skirts of pretension spread wide, and the world-displaying cup of wisdom in my hand, the ringings of delirium began to sound in my ears, and suggested a total withdrawal from the world. Meanwhile the wise prince-regnant called me to mind and drew me from my obscurity, somewhat of which I have in its entirety and somewhat but approximately suggested and acknowledged. Here my coin has been tested and its full weight passed into currency. Men now view me with a different regard, and many effusive speeches have been made amid felicitous congratulations evoked.
On this day which is the last of the 42nd year of His Majesty's reign (A.D. 1598), my spirit again breaks away from its yoke and a new solicitude arises within me.
- My songster heart knows not King David's strains:
- Let it go free—'tis no bird for a cage.
I know not how it will all end nor in what resting-place my last journey will have to be made, but from the beginning of my existence until now the grace of God has continuously kept me under its protection. It is my firm hope that my last moments may be spent in doing His will and that I may pass unburdened to eternal rest.
Assassination
Abul Fazl was assassinated while he was returning from the Deccan by Vir Singh Bundela (who later became the ruler of OrchhaOrchha
Orchha is a town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by Maharaja Rudra Pratap Singh in 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of central India, in the Bundelkhand region. Orchha lies on the Betwa River , 80 km from Tikamgarh &...
) between Sarai Vir and Antri (near Narwar
Narwar
Narwar is a town and a nagar panchayat in Shivpuri district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Narwar is a historic town and the Narwar Fort is just east of the Kali Sindh River and is situated at a distance of 42 km from Shivpuri. Narwar was known as Narwar District during the times of...
) in a plot contrived by the Mughal Prince Salim, who later became the Emperor Jahangir
Jahangir
Jahangir was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1605 until his death. The name Jahangir is from Persian جهانگیر,meaning "Conqueror of the World"...
in 1602, because Abu'l Fazl was known to oppose the accession of Prince Salim to the throne. His severed head was sent to Salim at Allahabad. Abul Fazl was buried at Antri. Abu'l Fazl's son Shaikh Abdur Rahman Afzal Khan (December 29, 1571–1613) was later appointed governor of Bihar in 1608 by Jahangir.
The Akbarnama
The Akbarnama is a document of history of Akbar’s reign and his ancestors spread over three volumes. It contains the history of Akbar’s ancestors from Timur to Humayun, Akbar’s reign up to the 46th regnal year (1602), and an administrative report of Akbar’s empire, the Ain-i-Akbari, which itself is in three volumes. The third volume of Ain-i-Akbari gives an account of the ancestry and life of the author. The Ain-i-Akbari was completed in the 42nd regnal year, but a slight addition was made to it in the 43rd regnal year on the account of the conquest of Berar.Ruqaʿāt
The Ruqaʿāt or the Ruqaʿāt-i-Abu'l Fazl is a collection of private letters from Abū al-Fażl to Murad, Daniyal, Akbar, Mariam Makani, Salim (Jahangir), Akbar's queens and daughters, his father, mother and brothers and several other notable contemporaries compiled by his nephew Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad.Inshā-i-Abu'l Fazl
The Inshā-i-Abu'l Fazl or the Maqtubāt-i-Allami contains the official despatches written by Abu'l Fazl. It is divided into two parts. The first part contains Akbar's letters to Abdullah Khan Uzbeg of TuranTuran
Tūrān is the Persian name for Central Asia, literally meaning "the land of the Tur". As described below, the original Turanians are an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age. As a people the "Turanian" are one of the two Iranian peoples both descending from the Persian Fereydun but with different...
, Shah Abbas of Persia, Raja Ali Khan of Khandesh, Burhan-ul-Mulk of Ahmadnagar and his own nobles such as Abdur Rahim Khan Khanan. The second part consists Abu'l Fazl's letters to Akbar, Daniyal, Mirza Shah Rukh and Khan Khanan. This collection was compiled by Abd-us-samad, son of Afzal Muhammad, who claims that he was Abu'l Fazl's sister's son as well as his son-in-law.
Further reading
- Rizvi, Saiyid Athar Abbas. Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims in Akbar's Reign: With Special Reference to Abu'l Fazl. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1975.
External links
- Biography and Works of Abu'l-Fazl - English Translation Persian Institute