84 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [March, 



was Shaikh Mubarik, who had first put the idea of Ifujtahidship 

 into Akbar's heart, it was his son, Abulfazl, who convinced the em- 

 peror of the divine right of kings of ruling as Grod's representatives on 

 earth, and of being the leaders of the nation in political and spiritual 

 matters. 'Royalty,' says Abulfazl, Ms alight emanating from God, 

 and communicated by God to kings independent of other men. This 

 light teaches kings to understand the spirit of the age, and to regard 

 the performance of their duty as an act of divine worship. Men will 

 find peace in the love of the king, and all sectarian differences will 

 vanish. Let the nation rally round Akbar, and they shall escape the 

 perplexities of this life by worshipping God in obeying the king.' 



Several circumstances confirmed Akbar in his plan of guiding the 

 people in spiritual matters. The Islam approached the Millenium, | 

 and all looked with anxiety to the year 1000 of the Hijrah, or A. D. 

 1590-91. Rumours were widely spread of the appearance of Imam 

 Mahcl'i, who, according to the belief, was to appear in the latter days, 

 when the faithful were few on earth. His appearance is immediately 

 to be followed by the advent of Christ, who is to re-establish 

 the Islam on a firm basis. The news of the discovery of the New 

 World, or the jahdn i nau, had spread from Goa and the Portuguese 

 Settlements over India and Persia, and stirred up the old fashioned 

 notions of men of science. A great comet which was visible in India 

 and Persia during 1577, filled the minds of all with great fear. All 

 agreed that the Islam had lost its lustre ; everywhere heretical notions 

 spread, chiefly through Persian adventurers, whom the concpiest by 

 the Turks of the north of Persia had driven to the Shi'itic kings of the 

 Dak'hin, or the Sunnis of Bukhara, and at last to the Hinduizing 

 court at Fathpiir Sikri ; and the decrease of faith on earth made people 

 the more inclined to expect a great religious change. 



Akbar's courtiers eagerly seized the opportunity, and pointed to the 

 emperor as the restorer of all things. 



One of the first consequences of the above-mentioned docu- 

 ment was, that Akbar denied the doctrine of inspiration, the miracles 

 of the prophet, and a future life in as far as it differed from transmi- 

 gration. The formula, ' There is no God, but God, and Muhammad 

 is his prophet', was, in 1579, openly changed to * There is no God 

 but God, and Akbar is God's representative on earth.' But as this 



