The Religious Landscape of the Indian Subcontinent Would Have Been Different Had Dara Shikoh Become the Emperor, Instead Of Aurangzeb

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 10 January 2023 Gentle, Genial and Generous Mystic Philosophy Of Rumi And Dara Shikoh Could Bind Mankind Together And Act As A Panacea To All Religious Differences And Divisions. ---- Amartya Sen is right in stating that Taj Mahal and Dara Shikoh are the finest examples of Hindu-Muslim collaboration in the sub-continent. Legendary British historian Sir Arnold Toynbee famously stated in his 'Oxford Memorial Lectures' that, “Though ifs and buts remain speculative till the end, at times they help build a broader picture and a larger reality.” Dara Shikoh ----- The broader picture and a larger reality is that had Shahjahan's eldest son and heir-apparent Dara Shikoh become the emperor, the history of the sub-continent would have been different. Different in the sense that Hindus en masse wouldn't have been converted to Islam. Aurangzeb had his brother executed and unlawfully become the emperor. According to the French columnist, writer and Historian Francois Gautier, “The Hindu forefathers of nearly 90 per cent of today's sub continental Muslims were forcibly converted to Islam at the behest of Aurangzeb." From July 1658 till his death in 1707, Aurangzeb brutally ruled for nearly 50 years and converted Hindus at will. According to Sarkar and Sardesai, “Almost all the Muslims of north and central India had Hindu ancestry which may not have been older than four hundred years” (courtesy, ' Shivaji and his times' and ' Mughal invasions in Deccan', simultaneously published by Cambridge University Press, 1951). But Dara was correspondingly different. He was the most benign, liberal and evolved Mughal who never liked the rigidity of Islam and its condescending supremacy. He was drawn to eastern mysticism (not organised Hinduism) which proclaimed and propounded the Supreme Brahmin (not the hierarchical Brahmin of today's polluted Hinduism) which's the formless, purest consciousness as described in Upanishads and later followed by the Iranian mystics and Sufis. A threatening, warning and brow-beating Allah of Islam or god of Semitic faiths was alien to the enlightened Dara Shikoh who wrote in Majma-ul-Bahrain (The co-mingling of two oceans) and Sirr-e-Akbar (The great mystery) that punishment and condemnation had no place in any faith and god or a Supreme being/Brahmin (derived from Brahma-leen: Merged in super consciousness or transcendental reality) was all love. Such subtle and serene idea of divinity was alien to Aurangzeb and is still foreign to most of the Muslims, steeped in Quranic mumbo-jumbo. So, Aurangzeb got his enlightened brother beheaded. Famous historian Professor Syed Hasan Askari was also of the same view that had Dara Shikoh become the Mughal emperor, he'd have tried to forge a greater and deeper bond between the Hindus and Muslims and the mutual bad-blood wouldn't have been so intense. Here, I must add that my introduction to Dara Shikoh's Persian and Sanskrit treatises on Quran, Hadees, Upanishads and Puranas egged me on to learn Sanskrit while growing up in Tehran and London. Iranian scholar and philosopher of mysticism like Abdolkarim Soroush wrote a few years ago that the gentle, genial and generous mystic philosophy of Rumi and Dara Shikoh could bind mankind together and act as a panacea to all religious differences and divisions. Today, all the converts who're condemning me on this forum wouldn't have existed or would have been mellowed down as much more liberal Muslims, had Dara been the emperor in lieu of Aurangzeb. Alack, one act of extreme perfidy on the part of Aurangzeb proved to be a festering wound for both the communities forever at loggerheads with each other. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/religious-landscape-dara-shikoh-aurangzeb/d/128840 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism