to be a Mussulman. His
mother was a Persian; he was a Persian in his thoughts and ways. He was
imbued with the old Mogul instinct of toleration. He was lax and
indifferent, without the semblance of zeal. He consulted soothsayers who
divined with burned rams' bones. He celebrated the Persian festival of
the Nau-roz, or new year, which had no connection with Islam. He
reverenced the seven heavenly bodies by wearing a dress of different
color every day in the week. He joined in the Brahmanical worship and
sacrifices of his Rajput queens. Still he was outwardly a Mussulman. He
had no sons; he vowed that if a son was born to him he would walk to the
tomb of a Mussulman saint at Ajmir; it was more than two hundred miles
from Fathipur. In 1570 his eldest son Seli was born; Akbar walked to
Ajmir; he offered up his prayers at the tomb.

Meantime the Ulama were growing troublesome at Agra. The Ulama comprised
the collective body of Mussulman doctors and lawyers who resided at the
capital. The Ulama have always possessed great weight in a Mussulman
state. Judges, magistrates, and law officers in general are chosen from
their number. Consequently the opinion of the collective body was
generally received as the final authority. The Ulama at Agra were
bigoted Sunnis. They hated and persecuted the Shiahs. Especially they
persecuted the teachers of the Sufi heresy, which had grown up in Persia
and was spreading in India. They had grown in power under the Afghan
sultans. They had been quiet in the days of Humayun and Bairam Khan;
both were confessedly Shiahs; the Ulama were too courtly to offend the
power which appointed the law officers. When, however, Akbar threw over
Bairam Khan and asserted his own sovereignty, the Ulama became more
active. They were anxious to keep the young Padishah in the right way.

Akbar and his vizier Abul Fazl were certainly men of genius. They are
still the bright lights of Indian history. They were the foremost men of
their time. But each had a characteristic weakness. Akbar was a born
Mogul. With all his good qualities he was proud, ignorant, inquisitive,
and self-sufficient. Abul Fazl was a born courtier. With all his good
qualities he was a flatterer, a time-server, and a eulogist; he made
Akbar his idol; he bowed down and worshipped him. They became close
friends; they were indeed necessary to each other. Akbar looked to his
minister for praise; Abul Fazl looked to his master for advancement. It
is dif