The Mughal dynasty was one of the world’s largest and strongest empire during the reign of greater Mughals. It lasted from 1526 to 1857 A.D. Most of the historians, especially the Hindu ones, consider Jalal-ud-Din Akbar as the greatest Mughal but in my opinion, this notion hinders the greatness of other Mughal emperors like Babar, Shahjehan and Aurangzeb Alamgir. The great strength of this dynasty, no doubt, was its military power but their reign was also exemplary in other fields like education, economy, social development and judiciary.
The social welfare system adopted by them was very strong capable of fulfilling the needs of the time. The society was multi-religious society in which the Hindus were in majority. The sizeable population of other religions like Islam, Buddhism and Sikhism was also present there. The Muslim population was not more than ten percent at that time. In such a multi-religious society, it was tough to build a balanced social welfare system that would be acceptable for all. The Mughals were successful in this concern. This policy was mainly based on the principle of equality. The people were allowed to enjoy full religious freedom. No one was forced to convert his religion forcefully. Business opportunities were for all and at an equal level. Muslims were a privileged class but at the same time, Hindus were also encouraged to get social progress as high as possible.
Hinduism is an old religion which had its origin and development within subcontinent. It became a regional entity and its followers did not try to spread it out. Since the last century, this religion was limited to this region only. The most prominent feature of this religion is its caste system which allows a small class of religious pundits to have full control over it. As a result, the social welfare system developed by this religion was very weak and did not provide social justice to the people. That is why the local people were attracted towards Islam and accepted it and hence Islam became a popular religion in this region. It confirms that the social welfare system of Mughals was successful.
During British era, Hindu revival movements gained momentum which mainly focused to compete the Islamic values. These movements were reactionary in their nature and they started opposing policies of the Mughals and criticized them negatively. Different segments started accepting their propaganda. It created the social, political and religious among two religions. British exploited the both of the communities by using these differences. They used the policy of divide and rule. All these circumstances ultimately lead to the partition of the subcontinent. So it is wrong to blame the Mughals especially, Aurangzeb Alamgir, for the partition of subcontinent as some Hindu historians blame.
TARIQ MAHMOOD KHAN
Faisalabad
