[34] That arrogance and vanity,
selfishness and avarice, also belonged to the character of the Ulemas
is so plainly to be taken for granted according to all analogies that
it need hardly be mentioned. The judicature was everywhere utilized by
the Ulemas as a means for illegitimate enrichment.
[Footnote 34: J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 156.]
This ecclesiastical party which in its narrow-minded folly considered
itself in possession of the whole truth, stands opposed to the noble
skeptic Akbar, whose doubt of the divine origin of the Koran and of
the truth of its dogmas began so to torment him that he would pass
entire nights sitting out of doors on a stone lost in contemplation.
The above mentioned brothers Faizi and Abul Fazl introduced to his
impressionable spirit the exalted teaching of Sufism, the Mohammedan
mysticism whose spiritual pantheism had its origin in, or at least was
strongly influenced by, the doctrine of the All-One, held by the
Brahman Vedanta system. The Sufi doctrine teaches religious tolerance
and has apparently strengthened Akbar in his repugnance towards the
intolerant exclusiveness of Sunnitic Islam.
The Ulemas must have been horror-stricken when they found out that
Akbar even sought religious instruction from the hated Brahmans.
Pages:
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54