His majesty Akbar said one day that he heard from Shaikh Abdul Nabí, that one of the chief lawyers of the Sonnites declared the taking of nine wives to be legal, whilst other learned men denied it, and quoted the passage of the Koran:
“Take in marriage such women as please you, two, or three, or four.”[68]
As even eighteen wives were said to be legal, then the learned gave the decision that it may be admissible, by the mode of matâh, “a temporary agreement,”[69] by means of which the obtainment of women is facilitated for a certain price; and this is permitted pursuant to the creed of the Imám Málik. The sect of the Shíahs assert, that a son begotten in consequence of matâh, is preferable to all others. Nakib Khan followed the footsteps of the Imám Málik, who at last declared the matâh legal by a public patent. The sect of the Shíáhs quote, in support of this, the following passage of the Koran:
“Your women are a field for you: approach your field as you may like.”
By which they pretend to show that any mode of coition is permitted.[70] Náin Javet said that, when the era of the Muselmans was fixed, the people had a bad opinion of the companions of the prophet, and wise men called all the laws “prisons,” and declared the centre of faith rests upon reason. Nobody disputed with them. Then arrived learned Farangis, and argued in their speeches. Shaikh Bhavan, so was called a learned Brahman from the country of Dekan, having conceived hatred towards his relations, became a Muselman, and obtained this name: he had the fourth Véda in his possession, and interpreted some precepts of this book, which contains many beauties, and a sentence like that of the Koran: “There is but one God;” and it was also stated therein, that whoever does not make this confession will not obtain salvation. In another place it was said that to eat cow’s flesh was, under certain conditions, allowable; and elsewhere it was ordained to bury, and not to burn, a corpse. Thus, the beforesaid Shaikh was triumphant over the Brahmans. But Náin Javet related that he has requested him to interpret this passage; when he had translated it, its meaning was completely contrary and opposed to the sentence: “There is but one God,” and the restriction to eat cow’s flesh also was contrary to the custom of the Muselmans; and concerning the burying of the dead he gave a different account from that which is lawful by the faith of the Muselmans. His Majesty (Akbar), with all those present, laughed at the Brahman, and said: “Look at these Muselmans and Hindus, who among many conflicting arguments did not think to ask what was the meaning of the passages in question, and have praised me exceedingly.”
Mír Sáíd Sherif Amely came to the place of Daibálpúr, and waited on his Majesty (Akbar), who was then taking part in a public dispute between a number of young men with some theologians, about Mahmúd, and he reduced them to silence. The Emperor conferred also many favors upon the said Mir, and the controversy in religion went so far that even doctors in law were accused of infidelity; learned men and Sufies declared in the celestial court (Akbar’s), that wise and capable men existed in all religions: where then is the superiority and preponderance? More than one thousand years have not elapsed since this faith was established.
In like manner, a number of children were put in a place called Gangmahel, where every thing necessary was furnished to them; but none could articulate a letter; having remained there to their fourteenth year, they were found to be dumb; which made it evident, that letters and language are not natural to man, that is, cannot be used unless they have been acquired by instruction, and it is then only that the use of conversation becomes possible. From this the conclusion was drawn, that the world is very ancient, and language of a long date, whence the Brahmans derive arguments founded upon reason and testimony for the truth of their religion and the futility of others.
The crown of the pious Shaikh Táj-ed-din, the son of Shaikh Zakríá Jondehení Dahluví, explained the exterior rites of the mystic doctrine; the system of the unity of the real being; and the precepts of the religion of Pharâoh, which is the Feśus ul hikem, the “bezels of philosophers,”[71] and the superiority of hope over fear. His Majesty Akbar liked the mode in which the Kings of Ajem performed worship; the Sufis, acknowledging holy personages as representing the Khalífs of the age, used to prostrate themselves before them, touching the ground with their foreheads; this was intended to mark the secret meaning that the angels had once adored Adam. The truth is, that the wise are the terrestrial angels, who worship an holy personage as a Khalífah, “vicar,” of God; and for having attained to this dignity, they venerate him under a similar character, and call him also their Kabâh and Kiblah: because the heart of a just man is the heart of the all-just God, and it is to its door that they turn in the worship of God; in that sense Yâkúb and his sons prostrated themselves before Yúsef.
Shaikh Yâkúb, a grammarian of Kashmir, who was a spiritual guide of the age, related, as from Aín alkasa Hamdání, that Muhammed is the manifest name of a guide, and Iblis the manifest name of a seducer. Mulla Muhammed Yzedí blamed the three khalifs, and reviled the companions of the prophet and their followers; he seduced people to the faith of Shíâhs, and, having brought forth chapters of the Gospel, he drew from them a proof of the third person of the Trinity as being true, and confirmed the religion of the Naśaránains.
As his Majesty (Akbar) showed himself a friend of all men, he gave orders to the Nawab, the wise Shaikh Abu ’l Faźil,[72] who frequently witnessed the prodigious deeds of the emperor, to interpret several foreign works, and instead of the common sentence, “Bismilla,” etc., he adopted another, viz.: