The Muslim World in the Early Modern Era
The Mughal Empire
Babur and the Founding of the Empire
The Mughal Empire in India represented a period of grandeur for Muslim India. The Indian subcontinent
at that time - and today - had a Hindu majority among the population. Muslims, however, had become a
large minority in India since their first arrival in the 8th century. The Delhi Sultanate, the immediate
predecessor to the Mughal Empire in northern India, had set an example of positive Muslim-Hindu
relations in a Muslim-controlled empire, which the Mughal Empire would follow. The same Muslim
empire that nearly defeated the Ottomans, the Timurids, virtually destroyed the Delhi Sultanate in 1398,
but it was able to recover, and it existed for over a century after that. Significantly, it was the descendants
of the Timurids who again destroyed the Delhi Sultanate in 1526 to establish the Mughal Empire.
The word Mughal, which is spelled several different ways in English, is derived from the Persian word
for Mongol, based on the fact that the Empire's ancestors were of Mongol descendant. The Mughal
Empire's founder, Babur, did not consider it a Mongol empire in any way, since Mongol descendants in
Central Asia were much more Turkish than Mongol by the 15th and 16th centuries, but the name for his
realm has stuck throughout history. Historians know a fair bit about Babur, because he was courteous
enough to leave them an autobiography, which was an unusual thing to do in this time period.
Babur was the first, and for many centuries the only Islamic ruler to write an autobiography of his life. It
was an unusual decision for him to do so, and historians are still unclear as to why he chose to keep a
written record of his life. He did not himself explain his reasons for writing it, but in one section he does
proclaim his commitment to keeping an honest record of his life.
Babur was part of the Timurid family ruling the Central Asian province of Ferghana1. Surrounding
Babur's family territory were the great Central Asian cities of Herat, Bukhara, and Samarkand. Babur
grew to covet Samarkand, as his ancestral capital, and in his youth he embarked on several missions to
take the city from the Uzbeks. He finally succeeded in 1497, but he held the city for only three months
before being driven out again. By 1500 he had recovered much of his territory in Ferghana. Later that
year, the Uzbeks in Central Asia became increasingly powerful with the ascension of a strong leader.
Babur managed to take Samarkand again over the winter of 1500-1501, but the Uzbeks took it back, and
by 1504 they had also taken much of Ferghana from Babur's family. Babur decided to give up his fight
for Samarkand because his foe was too powerful.
Instead, Babur turned his sights south. The city of Kabul, the present-day capital of Afghanistan, became
his new target. One of his uncles had been ruler of Kabul, but he had died with only an infant heir, and a
non-Timurid usurper had claimed power. Babur set off for Kabul to restore the Timurid line to the city,
and he achieved his goal fairly easily in 1504. Kabul was an important city on a number of trade routes,
including those that travelled from India through Persia and Iraq to Turkey, and northeast from India to
China. The city was also sheltered from the enemy Uzbeks by the Hindu Kush Mountains. For the rest of
his life, Kabul remained Babur's capital, and the city he called home.
In 1510, Babur received an indirect favor from Shah Ismail of Persia, when the shah killed Babur's Uzbek
foe in a battle. The death of their leader sent the Uzbeks into chaos. Shah Ismail recognized Babur's desire
to control Samarkand, the ancestral Timurid capital, and thus offered Babur the chance to claim the city on the condition he enter it wearing traditional Shi'ite dress, as a token of the shah's true rule over the city.
Babur agreed to the terms, despite being a Sunni Muslim himself, and entered Samarkand early in 1511.
1
Modern day Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan
The Muslim World in the Early Modern Era
However, his refusal to persecute the Sunni population lost him the support of the shah, while his Shi'ite
dress lost him the support of the Samarkand people. The Uzbeks reclaimed the city after eight months.
Babur had now lost Samarkand three times, and he decided to turn his attention elsewhere. He returned to
Kabul and prepared an army for a planned invasion south, into the territory known to him as Hindustan,
and to us today as India. One of the most important moves Babur made in his preparations was to arm
himself with artillery. He had heard of Shah Ismail's defeat to the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of
Chaldiran in 1514, which was decided mainly by the Ottoman use of artillery against the Safavid cavalry.
When Ismail decided to acquire firepower for the Safavid Empire in the wake of his defeat at Chaldiran,
Babur recognized that it would be beneficial to him to do so as well. Guns were already in use along the
west coast of India, where they were acquired from Portuguese and Turkish traders, but they had yet to
infiltrate the north Indian plains. Babur acquired the weapons from Turkish and Persian traders, and thus
embarked on his Indian invasion with a distinct advantage in weaponry over the defenders.
Babur began his invasion in 1525 against the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim. Babur's army was greatly
outnumbered, but he built barricades behind which he hid his muskets. When Ibrahim's army charged,
they were quickly decimated by Babur's firepower, in much the same manner as the Persians were
defeated by the Turks at Chaldiran in 1514. Ibrahim himself was among those killed, and Babur found
himself with an open path into Delhi. He had himself proclaimed Emperor of Hindustan the next week.
His next challenge came from the Rajputs, a confederacy of Hindu princes from Rajasthan, who had
planned to attack Ibrahim's Delhi Sultanate themselves before Babur beat them to it. Babur thus became
their target instead. The two armies met near Agra in 1526, and after Babur was able to incite his army
with rhetoric about fighting an infidel army for the first time, they defeated the Hindu Rajputs. Following
the victory, Babur had himself named a gazi, or warrior for Islam.
This victory consolidated Hindustan for Babur, and it is recognized as the beginning of the Mughal
Empire. For the most part, Babur enjoyed the support of the Indian population, because he tolerated their
non-Islamic religions, and he resisted looting their wealth. Babur never looked kindly upon India,
however, despite the kindness he showed its people. He had plants and fruit brought to him from Kabul,
which remained his favorite city. He found India too hot, compared to Kabul's more temperate, mountain
climate, and he stayed in India only to avoid losing the territory to rebellions, should he leave. Babur died
in 1530, after only four years in India, never having had the chance to return to Kabul. After an original
burial in Agra, his Indian capital, Babur's son and heir, Humayun, had his father's body moved to Kabul,
where it remains buried today.
Humayun, 1530-56
Humayun had the misfortune in history of reigning between two very strong leaders - his father, Babur,
and his son, Akbar. Using those comparisons, Humayun comes up short, and is generally remembered in
Mughal history as an opium addict with a lack of confidence in himself as a ruler. The main battles he had
to fight throughout his life were against his three brothers, all of whom wanted a chance on the throne.
Since Babur had died only four years after defeating Sultan Ibrahim to establish the Mughal Empire, the
empire was on very shaky foundations. It was essentially just a military occupation of Hindustan, since
Babur had not had time to establish an administration for his conquered land. Humayun did attempt to set
up such an administration, but his penchant for superstition got in the way. He divided public offices into
four departments according to the four elements, which resulted in many unrelated administrative sectors
being lumped together in the same department, on the basis of their broad characteristics as earth, fire,
water, and air. Similarly, Humayun assigned each day of the week to represent a different planet;
Tuesdays, for example, were assigned to the red planet Mars, and Humayun duly played the role of the
angry ruler on those days.
The Muslim World in the Early Modern Era
Away from these peculiarities at court, however, Humayun faced serious challenges from those vying for
the Mughal throne. Foremost among these challengers were Humayun's three brothers. The fourth
challenger Humayun faced was Sher Shah, ruler of a community of Afghans living along the Ganges
River in northeastern India. Sher Shah had his sights set on conquering Bengal, the region of the presentday country of Bangladesh, which Humayun also wanted for the Mughals. After a series of battles
against his brothers and Sher Shah, Humayun lost the Mughal Empire in 1540. He was not able to regain
it until 1555 after many battles and the exile of his brothers.
Humayun lived only a year after the re-establishment of the Mughal Empire, but he accomplished much
in that year to prepare the realm for the grandeur it would see during the rule of his son, Akbar. In fact,
much of Humayun's administrative accomplishments owe much to models set up by Sher Shah during his
rule over the region. Sher Shah set up systems for tax collection and provincial government, and
Humayun inherited this infrastructure when he re-established the Mughal Empire. He died in 1556, and
he has since been remembered in Mughal history as the weakest of the Mughal emperors. But his
reconquest of Hindustan was no easy feat, since the Mughal Empire could have died along with him. The
fact that it was resurrected instead is testimony that Humayun played a significant role in the formation of
the Mughal Empire.
Akbar, 1556-1605
The Mughal Empire was finally consolidated as one of the Islamic world's three Great Empires by
Humayun's son, Akbar, who was a strong ruler like his contemporary, Suleyman I in the Ottoman Empire.
Humayun had died unexpectedly in 1556 after falling down a flight of stairs, and Akbar was only 13
years old when he ascended to the Mughal throne. His first challenge came from a Hindu prince, Hemu,
who met Akbar's army near Delhi shortly after Akbar took power in 1556. Akbar won the battle, and
claimed Delhi for the Mughal Empire. He then moved his court from Kabul, where it had been staying in
safety until the Mughal Empire could be consolidated in Hindustan. Within two years of that victory,
Akbar had defeated two other challengers to the throne, and was thus able to take full control of the
Mughal Empire by the time he was 15 years old.
After regaining Babur's former territory, Akbar turned his attention to the expansion of the Mughal
Empire. He looked to Rajasthan first, which was a strongly Hindu province. He had already tried to work
his way into the principalities of Rajasthan by marrying into their ruling houses, but the leader of
Rajasthan refused to submit to Mughal rule. The two sides met in 1567 at the fort of Chitor, which the
leader of Rajasthan’s family had controlled for 800 years. Akbar's victory there resulted in Muslim
control of virtually all of Rajasthan. Next, in 1573, he conquered Gujarat, a traditionally Muslim region,
and in 1575, Akbar succeeded in annexing the province of Bengal - where Sher Shah had first challenged
Humayun. In 1586 he took the province of Kashmir, which would remain a favorite place of future
Mughal emperors, and which today is the source of conflict between Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India,
both of which claim jurisdiction over Kashmir. In 1592, Akbar further expanded his empire into the
Sindh, including Umarkot, the city of his birth, then into Baluchistan and Qandahar. By 1595 the Mughal
Empire covered the entire Hindustan plain, from the Indus in the west, to the Ganges in the east, and the
Hindu Kush and Himalaya Mountains in the north. To the south, the Deccan, a region of rough terrain,
provided another natural boundary for Hindustan, but Akbar tried to get through it in the last 12 years of
his life. He never succeeded in doing so, however, and thus the Mughal Empire never reached the
southern tip of the Indian subcontinent.
The Muslim World in the Early Modern Era
Although his military pursuits took a great deal of time and effort,
Akbar spent time on his internal administration as well as his foreign
policy. As he matured, Akbar developed a particular interest in
religion. He was known for his toleration of Hindus, for example,
and had several Hindu wives. Contrary to former Muslim rulers in
India with Hindu wives, however, Akbar allowed his wives to
practice their religion within the harem. Akbar also employed more
Hindus in the Mughal civil service than any of his predecessors,
because he realized the importance of maintaining good relations
with the majority Hindus of the Mughal realm. He knew that a
Muslim Empire that refused to treat Hindus well could not expect to
survive long in India.
Akbar's respect for Hinduism had less to do with political power,
however, than with simple personal interest. Although he was a
practicing Sunni Muslim, Akbar took great interest in learning all he could about other religions - from
Hinduism to Shi'a Islam to Christianity. He even invited Christian missionaries from the Portuguese
settlement at Goa, on India's west coast, to come to Agra and teach him the basic tenets of Christianity.
He also often held religious discussions at a specially built centre of worship at his court. He regularly
invited representatives from several different religions - including Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism,
Judaism, and Christianity - to come to these discussions. These explorations into other faiths often upset
Akbar's Muslim subjects, who believed he was drifting from Islam. Indeed, he did take several steps away
from orthodox Islam, most notably by proclaiming himself the founder in 1582 of a new religion, Din-iIlahi, or "Religion of God." The new religion was vaguely defined, and appears to have centered on
Akbar himself as its deity, but he never made any serious attempts to spread it beyond his inner circle. He
did, however, introduce a new calendar, which defined dates according to the Divine Era, which was the
date of Akbar's ascension to the throne. Similarly, he changed the imprint on Mughal coins to
read, Allahu akbar, which had an intentionally ambiguous meaning. Because the word, akbar, means
"great" as well as being the emperor's name, the phrase could mean either "God is great" or "Akbar is
God."
Akbar's relations with his son and heir, Salim - who later changed his name to Jahangir to avoid confusion
with the Ottoman Sultan Selim II - were strained at best. Akbar did not believe that Salim would make a
good emperor, and thus he openly favored his other sons for the throne. When Akbar died in 1605,
however, Salim did succeed him as Mughal emperor, and indeed proved himself to be a very capable
ruler. Under Salim (Jahangir) and his descendants, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire would
continue to grow as one of the Islamic world's three Great Empires.
Akbar’s Successors
With Akbar’s death in 1605, the Mughal court changed to deal with the changing times. The next three
emperors each left his mark on the Mughal Empire.
Akbar’s son called himself Jahangir or “Grasper of the World.” However, for most of his reign, he left
the affairs of state to his wife, who ruled with an iron hand. Jahangir’s wife was the Persian princess Nur
Jahan. She was a brilliant politician who perfectly understood the use of power. As the real ruler of
India, she installed her father as prime minister in the Mughal court. She saw Jahangir’s son Khusrau as
her ticket to future power. But when Khusrau rebelled against his father, Nur Jahan removed him. She
then shifted her favor to another son. This rejection of Khusrau affected more than the political future of
The Muslim World in the Early Modern Era
the empire. It was also the basis of a long and bitter religious conflict. Jahangir tried to promote Islam in
the Mughal state, but was tolerant of other religious. When Khusrau rebelled, he turned to the Sikhs.
This was a nonviolent religious group whose doctrines contained elements similar to Hinduism and
Sufism (Islamic mysticism). However, the Sikhs see themselves as an independent tradition and not an
offshoot of another religious. Their leader, Guru Arjun, sheltered Khusrau and defended him. In
response, the Mughal rulers had Arjun arrested and tortured to death. The Sikhs became the target of
Mughal’s particular hatred.
Jahangir’s son and successor, Shah Jahan, could not tolerate competition and secured his throne by
assassinating all his possible rivals. He had a great passion for two things: beautiful buildings and his
wife Mumtaz Mahal. Nur Jahan had arranged this marriage between Jahangir’s son and her niece for
political reasons. Shah Jahan, however, fell genuinely in love with his Persian princess. In 1631,
Mumatz Mahal died at age 39 while giving birth to her 14th child. To enshrine his wife’s memory, he
ordered that a tomb be built “as beautiful as she was beautiful.” Fine white marble and fabulous jewels
were gathered from many parts of Asia. This memorial, the Taj Mahal, has been called one of the most
beautiful buildings in the world. Its towering marble dome and slender minaret towers look like lace and
seem to change color as the sun moves across the sky. But while Shah Jahan was building gardens,
monuments, and forts, his country was suffering. There was famine in the land. Furthermore, farmers
needed tools, roads, and ways of irrigating their crops and dealing with India’s harsh environment. What
they got instead were taxes and more taxes to support the building of monuments, their rulers’
extravagant living, and war.
All was not well in the royal court either. When Shah Jahan became ill in 1657, his four sons scrambled
for the throne. The third son, Aurangzeb moved first and most decisively. In a bitter civil war, he
executed his older brother, who was his most serious rival. Then he arrested his father and put him in
prison, where he died several years later. After Shah Jahan’s death, a mirror was found in his room,
angled so that he could look out at the reflection of the Taj Mahal.
A master at military strategy and an aggressive empire builder, Aurangzeb ruled from 1658 to 1707. He
expanded the Mughal holdings to their greatest size. However, the power of the empire weakened during
his reign. This loss of power was due largely to Aurangzeb’s oppression of the people. He rigidly
enforced Islamic laws, outlawing drinking, gambling, and other activities viewed as vices. He appointed
censors to police his subjects’ morals and make sure they prayed at the appointed times. He also tried to
erase all gains Hindus had made under Akbar. For example, he brought back the hated tax on nonMuslims and dismissed Hindus from high positions in government. He banned the construction of new
temples and had Hindu monuments destroyed. Not surprisingly, these actions outraged the Hindus. The
Hindu rajputs, whom Akbar had converted from potential enemies to allies, rebelled. Aurangzeb defeated
them repeatedly, but never completely. In the southwest, a Hindu warrior community called Marathas
founded their own state. Sikhs transformed themselves into a brotherhood of warriors. They began
building a state in Punjab, an area in northwest India. Aurangzeb levied oppressive taxes to pay for the
wars against the increasing numbers of enemies. He had done away with all taxes not authorized by
Islamic law, so he doubled the taxes on Hindu merchants. This increased tax burden deepened the
Hindus’ bitterness and led to further rebellion. As a result, Aurangzeb needed to raise more money to
increase his army. The more territory he conquered, the more desperate his situation became.
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The Empire’s Decline and Decay
By the end of Aurangzeb’s reign, he had drained the empire of its resources. Over 2 million people died
in a famine while Aurangzeb was away waging war. Most of his subjects felt little or no loyalty to him.
As the power of the central state weakened, the power of local lords grew. After Aurangzeb’s death, his
sons fought a war of succession. In fact, three emperors reigned in the first 12 years after Aurangzeb
died. By the end of this period, the Mughal emperor was nothing but a wealth figurehead. He ruled not a
united empire but a patchwork of independent states. As the Mughal Empire rose and fell, Western
traders slowly built their own power in the region. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach
India. In fact, they arrived just before Babur did. Next came the Dutch, who in turn gave way to the
French and the English. However, the great Mughal emperors did not feel threatened by the European
traders. In 1661, Aurangzeb casually handed them the port of Bombay. Aurangzeb had no idea that he
had given India’s next conquerors their first foothold in a future empire.