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Further reading: Muhammad Khalid Masud, Brinkley
Messick, and David S. Powers, Islamic Legal Interpreta-
tion: Muftis and Their Fatwas (Cambridge, Mass.: Har-
vard University Press, 1996); Brinkley Messick, “The
Mufti, the Text, and the World: Legal Interpretation in
Yemen,” Man 21, no. 1 (March 1986): 102–119; R. C.
Repp, The Mufti of Istanbul: A Study in the Development
of Ottoman Learned Hierarchy (London and Atlantic
Highlands, N.J.: Ithaca Press, 1986).
Mughal dynasty
(1526–1858)
The Mughals were a Sunni dynasty that ruled
much of i
ndia
between the 16th and 19th cen-
turies. The name Mughal is a variant of Mongol,
as the empire’s founder, Babur (r. 1483–1530),
claimed descent from the Mongol ruler Genghis
Khan, as well as t
amerlane
. Babur became the
ruler of a small territory in Central Asia at a
young age. He soon set about enlarging his ter-
ritory, leading raids and expeditions throughout
the region. In 1504 he captured Kabul and estab-
lished a kingdom in present-day a
Fghanistan
.
In 1505 Babur made his first forays into India.
Over the years, these forays grew from raids
into serious attempts at conquest, and in 1526
Babur defeated the ruler of the d
elhi
s
Ultanate
at Panipat, near d
elhi
. Establishing his imperial
seat at Agra, Babur continued his conquest of
northern India.
Babur was succeeded by his eldest son, Huma-
yun (r. 1530–40, 1555–56), but Babur’s other
sons tried to seize the throne. Sher Khan Suri,
a leader of the Pashtun tribe in present-day
Afghanistan, took advantage of the brothers’
rivalry, defeating the Mughal army and declar-
ing himself ruler. Humayun was forced to seek
refuge in Persia (present-day i
ran
). After Sher
Khan’s death in 1545, Babur’s sons again sought
control of the empire; aided by Bayram Khan, one
of Babur’s soldiers, Humayun finally succeeded
in winning back the territory his father had left
him, and established his capital at Delhi. He was
succeeded by his son a
kbar
(r. 1556–1605), one
of the empire’s greatest rulers. With the help of
Bayram Khan, Akbar extended the empire until
it included most of the subcontinent north of the
Godavari River in South India.
To govern this vast area, Akbar developed an
efficient bureaucracy. He also worked to integrate
the Muslim and Hindu population of his empire
(see h
indUism
and
i
slam
), introducing policies
based on religious toleration. He abolished the
jizya
, the tax imposed on non-Muslim adult males,
and he included Hindus as well as Muslims in his
administration. Although Akbar’s policies were
designed to unify the empire, his support of dif-
ferent theological ideas made some of his Muslim
subjects uneasy, and his declaration that he was
K 488
Mughal dynasty
the final interpreter of Islamic law alarmed the
Ulama
, or religious leaders. Akbar also supported
architecture and the arts, integrating Muslim and
Hindu traditions to create a distinctive Mughal
style.
Akbar’s heir, Jahangir (r. 1605–28), lacked
his father’s administrative and military abilities.
During Akbar’s reign, European powers became
an increasing presence in India, with Portuguese,
English, and Dutch merchants establishing trad-
ing posts such as Bombay, Goa, and Calcutta.
Jahangir’s son, Shah Jahan (r. 1628–58), initially
launched a fresh wave of conquest, capturing
parts of the Deccan and halting the Portuguese
in Bengal. He then turned much of his energy to
building projects, including the Taj Mahal, built
as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal,
who died in 1631 while giving birth to her 14th
child. Under Shah Jahan, Delhi became one of the
great cities of the Muslim world. However, his
lavish expenditures drained the imperial treasury,
while trade fell increasingly into the hands of
European powers. In 1658 his son a
Urangzeb
(r.
1658–1707) seized the throne, imprisoning his
father and having his brothers killed.
Aurangzeb ruled with a reformer’s zeal. An
intensely devout Sunni Muslim, he declared
sharia
, or Islamic law, the law of the land, and
strictly enforced regulations against drinking,
gambling, and prostitution. He reinstated the
jizya, or tax on non-Muslims, while abolishing all
taxes not authorized by Islamic law. The reintro-
duction of the jizya meant that the tax burden fell
most heavily on the empire’s Hindu population,
while the abolition of other taxes reduced the
empire’s revenues overall. Although he succeeded
in capturing the sultanates of Bijapur and Gol-
conda, he was unable to subdue the Marathas, a
Taj Mahal (17th century), built by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, Agra, India
(Juan E. Campo)
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