Din-i-Ilahi

Din-I-Ilahi is known as the ‘religion of God’ and it is known as the Divine faith or a spiritual belief of a syncretic religion. Based on the spiritual beliefs, the Mughal emperor Akbar initiated a spiritual leadership program in 1582 that helped to merge some effective elements of many religions, and r it helps to accept  the differences and diversities from other religions. This assignment has elaborately discussed the history of Din-i-Ilahi. 

Din-I-Ilahi

As per the literary meaning of Din-i-Ilahi, it means ‘religion of God’ or ‘God’s Religion’. As per the statement of the renowned historian Mubarak Ali, the word Din-I-Ilahi was not used during the period of Mughal emperor Akbar. Rather it was used as ‘Tawhid-I-Ilahi’ as written by a court historian Abul -Fazi during the predominance of the Mughal emperor Akbar. These kinds of beliefs were developed especially based on Akbar’s beliefs about god. From history, it is known that Akbar helped to promote the tolerance of other religious faiths, and however, he also motivated various debates regarding any kind of philosophical issues and religious problems. This encouraged the creation of Ibadat Khana which was known as the house of worship at the place Fatehpur Sikri in the year 1575 and there were invited various poets, philosophers, and scholars from different religions such as including Christians, Jains, and so on. The Mughal emperor Akbar suffered from a severe disease named dyslexia and due to this disease, he can’t read and write properly. But despite his illiteracy, he established a library with a huge amount of textbooks and the number of books was around 24000 volumes. There were various books of different languages such as Hindi, Greek, Arabic, and so on. As per the statement of the next Mughal emperor and his son Jahangir, it is known that Akbar knew the rules and regulations of every creed and religion. From a letter of Akbar to king Phillip 2, it is known that he always tried to find key challenges or issues that were faced by his kingdom, and as per his writing, only mitigating those issues, one religion can develop their faiths as well as the intellectual power of the human. In the 17th century, Shah Jahan’s eldest son Dara Shikoh tried to reestablish the din I Ilahi, but this program was not successful due to the inconvenience created by the Aurangzeb. 

Din I Ilahi was founded by

As per the statement of the historians, the din I Ilahi was established in 1582. In 1578, while Akbar was hunting, the traditional interest of his religion grew in his mind and he was inspired to create Din-I-Ilahi. As some modern scholars say, it was not a spiritual leadership program, rather it was a new religion and beliefs. 

What is Din I Ilahi

Although the din I Ilahi was established based on the concept of Sufism, the Mughal emperor Akbar tried to develop a new religion as his religion and its beliefs were created through the beliefs of other creeds and casts. The aligning beliefs of Sufism and Din-I-Ilahi say that one soul can purify itself through the yearning of God and the sins are such as pride, lust, slander, and so on. As per the statements of Din-I-Ilahi, there were some practices and beliefs that must be followed by the followers of Din-I-Ilahi. Those beliefs are such as – ‘the unity of God’, moreover, the followers should have to salute one another using Allah-u-Akbar or saying Jalla-Jalaluhu and these divine words should be strictly followed. As per the regulation of din-i-Ilahi, the followers will not consume any kind of meat. The followers will celebrate the birth anniversary of each member and they will be prohibited from having meals with fishers and hunters. 

Conclusion

From doing the overall assignment based on the Din-I-Ilahi, it can be said that the great Mughal emperor Akbar has promoted these beliefs to establish the oneness of God, through which the moral and ethical principles of religion were made within the Muslim people. It was an ethical system that helped the Muslims prohibit various sins such as lust, pride, and so on. However, it is always encouraged to emphasize kindness among the people and respect the virtues. Though the principal thoughts of Din-I-Ilahi were very positive for religion, it was not successfully implemented after the end of Akbar.