#18 A Muslim Empire’s Tolerance on Hinduism 1
Akbar's bold decision to abolish jizya tax
TL;DR
Corporate values are foundational, yet in a rapidly changing business landscape, companies must remain adaptable, sometimes even challenging their deepest values. The Mughal Empire (1526-1857) serves as a historical example of this, thriving in a Hindu-majority India through religious tolerance rather than coercion. Key lessons emerge from the rise and fall of this empire, demonstrating that flexibility in core values can be critical for long-term success and stability.
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Corporate values reflect what a company believes in its core. Yet, the business world is constantly changing with disruption and innovation. To survive, a company must be agile, adaptable, and willing to evolve. At times, this may even require challenging their most deeply held values and beliefs. Acting against the corporate values is difficult but, at a time, it is necessary to achieve something greater.
And history shows this. In the following two blog posts, we will extract a lesson from the rise and fall of the Mughal Empire (1526-1857), which existed in modern-day India. This Muslim empire offers an interesting insight for its flexibility in value, as they thrived in a predominantly Hindu region. Instead of converting Hindus to Islam, the empire embraced religious tolerance to harmonize the two faiths.
Before the Mughal Empire
Now, let us walk you through the brief summary of the Mughal Empire. But please be patient with us. To understand the dynamics of the Empire, it’s important to keep in mind the religious context in India.
India’s first religion was neither Islam nor Hinduism. The early major religious view of this region was the Vedas. It is a large body of religious texts developed by the Aryan people. Around the 20th century BCE, the Aryans began migrating into Punjab, the northern part of present-day India, from Central Asia. This series of migration coincided with the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization and marked the beginning of the Vedic period (c. 1500 - 500 BCE).
Buddhism became prevalent under some of the major early Indian dynasties such as the Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE) and the Kushan Empire (30–375). However, under the Gupta period (320-550), known for its cultural development, Hinduism evolved out of the Vedic tradition. The religion gradually incorporated and transformed elements of local religions and beliefs over time. Since then, Hinduism has remained a dominant religion in India.
Meanwhile, Islam gained more power in Eurasia. The Delhi Sultanate was founded in 1206 by Central Asian Turks, who assimilated with India. Their state religion was Islam. The Delhi Sultanate had five dynasties in its 320 years of history. However, another empire came from Central Asia and conquered India, marking the end of the Delhi Sultanate.
The Rise of the Mughal Empire
This empire was the Mughal Empire, founded by Babur (r. 1526-1530), a descendant of the legendary conquerors Genghis Khan and Timur. Babur defeated the Lodi dynasty, the last dynasty of the Delhi Sutanate, at the Battle of Panipat in 1526. The Mughals started to rule India. Similar to the Delhi Sultanate, the empire had to assert its authority over a Hindu-majority territory. Akbar the Great (1556-1605), the grandson of Babur, manoeuvred the situation.
Akbar the Great
The reign of Akbar the Great is a testament to the strength of inclusivity and adaptability. Akbar understood that the long-term stability of his empire hinged on harmonizing Islam and Hinduism. And he recognized the importance of accommodating the beliefs and practices of Hindus.
One of his most significant decisions was the abolishment of the jizya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims, which had been a common practice in many Islamic empires. This practice was so ingrained into the Muslim culture that it’s even mentioned in Qur’an (9.29).
Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the tax, willingly submitting, fully humbled.1
This bold move, aimed at fostering religious harmony and economic integration, contributed to solidifying Mughal rule and fostering a sense of shared identity among his diverse subjects. He also established and promoted a new religion, Din-i Ilahi, a syncretic religion driven mainly from Islam and Hinduism. Under Akbar, the Mughal Empire realized a strong and stable economy and expanded its territory and wealth. Akbar is often hailed as the greatest of the Mughal emperors. This gives a stark contrast from the Northern Wei Dynasty’s sinicization strategy, where people with nomadic traditions assimilated into Chinese culture.
Returning to Intolerance
However, the Mughal Empire, like all empires, was not immune to the cyclical nature of power. Following Akbar's death, subsequent rulers grappled with the challenge of maintaining the delicate balance he had established. Aurangzeb, Akbar's great-grandson, ascended to the throne in 1658 and marked a stark departure from Akbar's policies of religious accommodation.
Aurangzeb was a devoted Muslim and reinstated the jizya, a decision with far-reaching consequences for the empire. Driven by his personal religious convictions, he continually led military campaigns against non-Muslims. These actions alienated many people within his empire, particularly some caste classes such as Rajput who had been loyal allies of the Mughals. Revolts erupted across the empire, fuelled by resentment towards Aurangzeb's policies, gradually chipping away at the Mughal's authority. While Aurangzeb's reign saw territorial expansion, it also sowed the seeds of the empire's decline.
Del Testa, Lemoine and Strickland describe Aurangzeb in the book “Government Leaders, Military Rulers and Political Activists” as follows:
Under Aurangzeb, the Islamic Mughal Empire of India reached its greatest territorial extent, but his endless military campaigns against non-Muslims provoked revolts and weakened the empire, which collapsed soon after his death2.
The Fall of an Empire
By the 18th century, the Mughal Empire was weakened by internal strife and external pressures, and it began to crumble. The once mighty empire, which had stretched from the edges of modern-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh, fragmented into smaller, regional powers. The British East India Company capitalized on the empire's vulnerability, eventually leading to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, which marked the final chapter in the Mughal saga.
The Mughal Empire’s story suggests that companies might need to be flexible with their core values at times. We'll discuss this more in detail in the next blog entry. Stay tuned!
Qur’an 9:29, trans. Mustafa Khattab
David W. Del Testa, Florence Lemoine, and John Strickland, Government Leaders, Military Rulers, and Political Activists (Routledge, 2001).