The Administration of the Mughal Empire

Title: The Administration of the Mughal Empire
Author: Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi
Publisher: Low Price Publications, Delhi, 2002 (First published 1973)
Pages: 296

Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi (1903-1981) was born in U.P, India and migrated to Pakistan soon after independence in 1947. Being a renowned scholar, he went on to become the Minister for Education in the Pakistan government. Written in a clear and eloquent style which is quite unusual among the writers of the sub-continent, the work is a mark of the erudition and philosophy of the author. Though it sometimes deviates very much from some of the most basic aspects of historical validity, we can’t deny the impressive scholarship which has gone into making this work one of his masterpieces. Every page is littered with foot notes and relevant details and the bibliography is astounding. The weakest point is the author’s intolerance to opposing points of view and his carpet denial of the work done by British and Indian scholars. His sweeping criticism extends to scholars of every hue and goes on even to accuse them of ignorance of the Persian language, which was the official language of the Mughal state. Contrary to the secular view of not picturising the epochs of Indian history according to religion, Qureshi declares the Mughal state being one which belonged to Islam and every muslim subject was a part of the ruling race. If such is the feeling of even renowned scholars like Qureshi, then the nostalgia of the ignorant Muslim masses about the long gone ‘empire of their own’ would have been so great and it also might have been a factor which resulted in the merciless bifurcation of the Indian motherland with its consequent bloodbath.
The responsibility of the Muslim community is expressed as, “(Akbar) became so powerful that resistance to his will became impossible. With the growth of the monarch’s authority, the power of the Muslim community declined to a degree that the earlier sense of responsibility as the mainstay of polity was replaced by comparative indifference and, in certain circles, even by political irresponsibility” (p. 6). Qureshi’s tirade against fellow historians is clearly brought out when he takes the noted historian, Sir Jadunath Sirkar, to task, as “Jadunath Sirkar’s reputation was built on his book on Alamgir I, and it has considerable material. It is old fashioned and rather disappointing, because he finds himself out of sympathy with his subject and the spirit of the reign has eluded him. He quite unnecessarily says uncharitable things about Islam which mars the quality of his work because it betrays a deep seated prejudice” (p 20).

Islam is both a religion and a political state. This was necessitated by the tribulations the prophet had to undergo in establishing the first Islamic state and continued there after. The Muslim believes that it is impossible to divorce religion from all human activity, because all actions must be motivated by man’s innermost convictions and externally, they should interpret his ideals (p.24). Islam does not constitute a central church, and in such a community, the purity of the doctrine and conformity with the principles could be insured only by laying the greatest emphasis upon the inviolability of the fundamentals; fissiparous tendencies could be prevented by some compromise between freedom and conformity (p.25). Qureshi’s vainly tries to prop up Aurangzeb as the jewel among Mughals often goes below the levels of common sense. See this passage, “Alamgir is held up by modern writers as a paragon of intolerance against the Hindus but he did not go beyond the imposition of the Jizyah, the demolition of temples built or repaired without sanction, and the suppression of certain spectacular and festive institutions, some of which, like Holi, caused annoyance and inconvenience to others” (p. 41). What can be said about this, which even denies the victims the basic right to voice their grievance? He is quite certain that the imposition of Jizyah, which constituted only a small fraction of the state income (nearly 2.5%), but which shattered the morale of the entire Hindu community since paying the tax involved going to the tax-collector’s mansion in person, wait for appointment and personally handing over the money to him, often accompanied by jeers and insults of haghty Afghan and Turkish nobles was only a small matter! Demolition of temples which went on a grand scale through out the empire and which eventually caused its natural demise was, in the eyes of the author, resorted to when the renovation or building was without sanction. The prohibition of the festivities of the greatest festival of North India, Holi, was only a small matter to Qureshi since it caused nuisance to a micro-minority who happened to treat this land as their legacy and treated its inhabitants worse than slaves.

A day in the life of Emperor Shah Jehan is curious. He got up before the first streak of the light of the dawn, made his morning ablutions and went from his sleeping quarters, the khwabgah, to the royal mosque in the palace. There he offered his prayers in congregation and then remained busy in reading the Quran and worship and meditate until the Sun has risen fully. Then he went to the jharokah-i-darshan, where he spent two or three gharhis. At about four gharhis after dawn, he held the diwan-i-am. Then he moved to the diwan-i-khas. This was followed by the transaction of confidential business in Shah Burj. At noon, he retired to his private apartments, where he had luncheon with the empress and other ladies of the court. The empress of the chief stewardess of the palace brought to the notice of the emperor the cases of deserving women who needed help, and the monarch was pleased to make suitable grants. The the emperor had a short siesta and came out after offering the afternoon prayers. He then went on to the diwan-i-am and inspected the guard who displayed the royal standards. If there was any outstanding business, it was executed. By now, the diwan-i-khas had been lit, and the emperor went there. First the sunset prayers were offered, then for about four or five gharhis, official business was transacted, after which the emperor rose for the evening prayers. At midnight, he retired to his sleeping apartments” (p. 47).
The herding of women for the sexual pleasures of the monarch is glorified by Qureshi, as “In Muslim lands, the quarters reserved for women are called harem, or a sanctuary; it is the same word which is used for the holiest places in the world of Islam. The word signifies the respect shown to women and to the sanctity of domestic life” (p.55).

The tax structure of the Mughal state was sectarian in the extreme and merciless in squeezing the Hindus dry, irrespective of their financial status. The income of the state fell into two broad categories. The first is ushar and zakat, the latter includes jizyah and kharaj. The zakat is prescribed by the Quran upon all Muslims and the state didn’t collect this tax which was left as voluntary. Jizyah, however was collected with the full vigour to make up for ushr. Even the tax rates on commodities traded by vendors were different, based on their religion! Muslim traders paid 2.5%, Christians and Jews paid 3.5% and the Hindus were required to pay 5% (p. 146). This was all done in the motherland of the majority community where such heinous discrimination was practised all the time the country was under Muslim rule. Akbar withdrew Jizyah which was reimposed by Aurangzeb.

The claims of Qureshi are often laughable and proves the extent to which he stands dissociated from logical thinking and independent verification of facts in his quest for painting the Mughals in false glory. Some of the claims are as follows.
1. The farmer owned the land he tilled
2. Officers were responsible for the safety of travellers and if the things were robbed and they are unable to apprehend the culprits, they have to compensate them out of their own pockets
3. The mughal state was benevolent and the people were happy even though they didn’t possess even the basic furniture or clothes.
4. Akbar was the worst ruler while Aurangzeb was the jewel among them
5. The magnificent monuments erected by later rules, especially Shah Jehan denotes the prosperity of the empire including common people even though he forgets that the redness of the Red Fort was contributed in no small measure by the blood of the common folk.
6. The ulema who were also justices of the law, harshly punished the accused even under trumped charges were justified in doing so because it proved the independence of judiciary.

A useful chronology of the Mughal emperors is given.

1. Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur AH 932, CE 1526
2. Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Humayun AH 937, CE 1530
3. Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar AH 963, CE 1556
4. Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jehangir AH 1014, CE 1605
5. Dawar Bakhsh AH 1037, CE 1627
6. Shihab-ud-din Muhammad Shah Jehan AH 1037, CE 1628
7. Murad Bakshsh AH 1068, CE 1657
8. Shah Shuja AH 1068, CE 1657
9. Muhiy-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir AH 1068, CE 1657
10. Azam Shah AH 1118, CE 1707
11. Kam Bakhsh AH 1119, CE 1707
12. Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Shah Alam Bahadur AH 1119, CE 1707
13. Azim-ush-Shan AH 1124, CE 1712
14. Muizz-ud-din Jahandar Shah AH 1124, CE 1712
15. Muin-ud-din Muhammad Farrukh-siyar AH 1124, CE 1713
16. Shams-ud-din Muhammad Abul-Barakat Rafi-ud-Darajat AH 1131, CE 1719
17. Shams-ud-din Muhammad Rafi-ud-dawlah Shah Jehan II AH 1131, CE 1719
18. Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah AH 1131, CE 1719
19. Mujahid-din Ahmad Shah Behadur AH 1161, CE 1748
20. Aziz-ud-din Muhammad Alamgir II AH 1167, CE 1754
21. Shah Jehan III AH 1173, CE 1759
22. Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Shah Alam II AH 1173, CE 1759
23. Akbar II AH 1221, CE 1806
24. Siraj-ud-din Muhammad Bahadur Shah II AH 1253, CE 1837

In spite of all these short coming noted in the above paragraphs, students of the history of the Indian sub-continent should read this book as it is enlightening in some aspects because of the author’s erudition in Persian and the first-hand translations of documents provided. However, such a student should be ever vigilant to ward off the chaff from the wheat. Anachronistic ideals which are declared to be the hallmarks of this medieval empire should be weeded out and other noted writers like Moreland and Jadunath Sirkar should be consulted, especially Moreland’s “From Akbar to Aurangzeb – A study in Indian economic history”, which contains documentary evidence to rubbish some of the claims put forward by Qureshi.

Overall Rating: 3 Star