Among the Babur rulers, Avrangzeb Alamgir is known all over the world as a Babur ruler and general, an active propagator of Islam, and a pious person.
Abu Muzaffar Muhyiddin Muhammad (also called the First World) was born on November 1618, 4 (according to some sources, October 24) in Dohad, Gujarat, India. He was the son of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur Shahjahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal Beg. The Persian word "Awrangzeb" means "decoration of the throne", and "Alamgir" means "conqueror of the world". He completely memorized the Qur'an very early, studied hadith and jurisprudence as well as Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Indian languages in depth. In the years 1658-1707, the Babur state, which occupied half of India and went down in history under the name "Great Mongol Empire", ruled for about half a century. According to the unanimous opinion of historians, his reign was "the golden age, the highest peak in the history of the kingdom." The work "Fatavoyi Olamgiriya", considered the encyclopedia of Hanafi jurisprudence in the Islamic world, was classified directly under his initiative and leadership. Only Amir Temur and Aurangzeb were included in the book "100 Great Commanders" published in Russia. Aurangzeb died on March 1707, 3 at the age of ninety.
Aurangzeb's father was Shah Jahan, the grandson of Akbar Shah, the third ruler of the dynasty founded by Babur Shah in India, and his mother was the famous princess Mumtaz Mahal. The famous Taj Mahal monument in Agra was built in honor of this queen. The couple had four sons: Daro Shukuh, Shah Shujo, Aurangzeb and Murad Bakhsh.
Shah Jahan seriously cares about the education of his third son, who is very intelligent and clever, and invites the most famous scholars and teachers of the country to the palace for this purpose. At the age of eight, the child memorizes the Holy Qur'an, studies hadith and jurisprudence in depth. In addition to Persian, which is the official state language, he thoroughly knows Arabic, Indo-Urdu, and Turkish (Chigatay), the language of his grandparents. Like his great-grandfather Babur, he loved literature and wrote ghazals himself. Aurangzeb was also interested in calligraphy and achieved great success in this field as well. Examples of his calligraphic art have been preserved to this day.
The boy was not interested in palace luxury, wealth and career intrigues, he spent most of his time reading books and studying military art. He also achieved great results in using weapons and improving his military skills, which was extremely useful in his later military campaigns. Later, during his campaigns in Central Asia and Kandahar, when he was governor of four provinces of Gujarat and the Deccan, he gained a lot of experience in the military field, and this experience worked to his advantage in his struggle for the throne of the kingdom. Divine destiny seemed to prepare the ground for him to become a wise and brave ruler of a vast kingdom.
Aurangzeb was a prince who tried to find his place in the Babur kingdom from the time he was a teenager, before he even ascended the throne. In 1636, when he was eighteen years old, his father Shah Jahan appointed him governor of the Deccan region, the center of which was the city of Aurangabad. In 1645, Shah Jahan sent his son as governor first to Gujarat, then to Balkh and Badakhshan. In 1652, his father Shah Jahan sent Aurangzeb back to the Deccan, where he was again appointed governor of the Deccan province and remained in this position until 1657.
The father's desire for fame, luxury and extravagance, contrary to the requirements of Islam, also causes discord between father and son. Aurangzeb also did not like the fact that the Taj Mahal, a luxurious mausoleum, was built in Agra in honor of Mumtaz Mahal, the ruler's beloved wife. He calls the construction of such a magnificent mausoleum a waste of the state's treasury, a huge extravagance, and says that it is against Islam. On top of that, Shah Jahan was hesitant to build another magnificent mausoleum for himself besides the Taj Mahal. This was destined to lead to the complete emptying of the state treasury and the collapse of the kingdom. Aurangzeb is forced to go against his father in order to preserve the Babur kingdom and develop it in every way. Aurangzeb's rule coincided with the period of the greatest expansion of the Babur kingdom. The Sultanate covered the whole of India, extending to the Pennar and Tungabhadra rivers in the south, and Kashmir and the Afghan lands of Kabul and Ghazna in the north. Only Kandahar was under the hands of the Persians.
One of the decisive battles for the throne took place on May 1658, 29 at Samugarh near Agra. The army (army) of fifty thousand men of the elder brother Darius goes into battle against the army of his two brothers. Aurangzeb and Murad won a complete victory in this battle.
Ten thousand followers of Darius were killed in this battle, and he himself fled towards the Punjab. In the summer of 1658, Aurangzeb entered Agra and took the throne of his father, who was ill at that time, and announced himself as Abul Muzaffar Muhyiddin Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir King Ghazi, the king of the Babur kingdom.
After defeating all his enemies, Aurangzeb firmly established himself on the throne and ruled the vast kingdom with skill and justice for about fifty years. A talented commander, a resourceful leader, well-versed in the ins and outs of management, this ruler was at the same time strict. He especially insisted on strict adherence to the requirements of Sharia, and was not willing to compromise on this. From his youth, Aurangzeb, who had learned to live modestly and away from luxury, did not leave this habit until the end of his life. He did not drink wine, did not eat beef, but contented himself only with water and barley bread eaten by poor people. He slept on dry land, dressed simply, and often fasted. Historians write that there were absolutely no valuable gold and silver vessels in his palace. The ruler was very intransigent in matters of morality, and because of his strong will, he never gave in to the influence of his princes and queens. Aurangzeb, who was very thrifty and even miserly in spending, gave generous alms and turned his battles into wars of faith.
Aurangzeb Alamgir's piety, that is, his fear of God, was visible at every step of his work. The activities prohibited by Allah, such as gambling, drug addiction, etc., have been put an end to in the country. Before his reign, the practice of engraving verses of the Holy Qur'an on minted coins, which was a tradition in the country, was abandoned and this practice was banned. In order to prevent prostitution, husbandless women were asked to touch the ground, or else leave the country. In the palace, the celebration of the birthday of the ruler was stopped. He even gave up wearing the Indian national dress, which had been customary since Akbar's time.
Also, a special position - muhtasib - was established to check and supervise the implementation of sharia rules and not to engage in activities prohibited by sharia among the population. Muhtasis were given unlimited rights, including the right to punish those who violate Sharia requirements.
Aurangzeb ordered the repair and construction of mosques and madrasahs, houses, and stopped the repair and construction of temples and schools of non-Muslims. Starting from 1679, a procedure was introduced to charge non-Muslim Indians with jizya (a tax levied on non-Muslims living under the protection of a Muslim country) and to pay additional taxes for visiting their holy places.
A tax of five percent of commercial goods was abolished for Muslim merchants, but this type of tax was retained for non-Muslim merchants. It was forbidden for non-Muslims to work in tax and zakat collection offices. Starting from 1688, it was also restricted for non-officials to ride in carriages and on beautiful horses. The expected goal of such activities was not to restrict their rights, but to encourage the local Indians to become Muslims. At the same time, the Indians who wanted to convert to Islam were given great privileges: they were given positions, large sums of money, land, allowances, etc.
The ruler relied on religious scholars and figures to manage the state. He was concerned that his daily activities, every event, and the reforms he initiated were in accordance with the requirements of Islamic Sharia, and he used his kingship, which had unparalleled power, to promote the religion. On the other hand, opening a wide path to religion and strict observance of its rules would open up great opportunities for the development of the country and fair management of the state.
Aurangzeb's religious services were not limited to this. Alamgir always supported and gave donations to the capital cities of Muslims, Mecca, Medina, and other blessed centers. At that time, the kingdom under the leadership of Aurangzeb served as one of the reliable bases of the Muslims of the world.
One scholar writes: "Aurangzeb Alamgir, a ruler of the Babur dynasty in India, was known for his firm adherence to the Ahl al-Sunnah and communal faith and the Hanafi school of thought. It is clear that he raised his daughter Zebunnisa Beg in the same way. It was this Zebunniso who wrote "Zeb al-tafasir" a commentary on the Qur'an in Persian in several volumes.
Aurangzeb Alamgir, who was on the throne from 1658 to 1707, has a special place in the attitude of the rulers of the kingdom to religion during the reign of the Babur kings. From his youth, Aurangzeb was a very pious, godly, abstaining from sinful deeds, righteous Muslim. While other rulers kept a few wives and dozens of concubines in their palaces, his number of wives did not exceed four according to Sharia, he kept only one concubine. Aurangzeb was strict about prayer, he did not miss his prayers, he fasted during the month of Ramadan, and he also set aside time for nafl prayers. According to the Indian researcher Sri Sharma, during a fierce battle in one of the military campaigns to the Central Asian countries, when the battle was in full swing, he dismounted from his horse, performed noon prayer, and then mounted his horse again and entered the battle.
Aurangzeb skillfully and efficiently used the opportunity to conduct work in accordance with the Islamic law in all areas of his reign. Until then, if a question arose in any area of society's life, the muftis were referred to, and in many cases their opinion on the same issue was different. In order to put an end to this, to make it easier to learn Islamic fatwas, there was a need to collect all fatwas in one book, to classify and examine them. The ruler undertook this work. According to the instructions of Avrangzeb Alamgir, more than forty potential scholars of jurisprudence of the country sorted the fatwas of the Hanafi madhhab and compiled a four-volume collection. This is how the collection of fatwas, known in India as "Fatavoi Alamgiriya" and abroad as "Fatavoi India" came into existence. Nizamuddin Burhanpuri (Shaykh Nizam), head of this jurisprudential community of the Hanafi madhhab, checked its compatibility with the Qur'an, Sunnah, Ijma' and Qiyas by twenty-four scholars. The collection was divided into four groups: the first quarter was headed by Sheikh Wajihiddin, the second by Sheikh Jalaluddin, the third by Qazi Muhammad Hasan, and the last group was headed by Mulla Hamid Junpuri, and it was successfully completed under the leadership and editorship of Sheikh Nizam. Only after that, Aurangzeb distributed this book to all officials and instructed them to strictly follow these fatwas in all state and judicial affairs, and to fight against any violation of the requirements of Islamic Shari'a. In this way, the evils such as drinking, gambling and prostitution, which have taken root in the country, were started to be fought in accordance with the requirements of Sharia. Also, some taxes that are against the Islamic law have been abolished. These events were widely supported by thousands of people living in the territory of the kingdom. Later, "Fatavoi Alamgiriya" was translated from Arabic into Urdu and published in Lucknow in 1889. This work was published several times in India and Beirut. Several copies of this book are kept in the libraries of Uzbekistan.
Muhammad Musta'id Khan Saqi, who always walked next to Aurangzeb and personally witnessed his every step and work, wrote down beautiful lines about the great qualities of the great ruler in his memoir "Ma'osiri Alamgiri" (Good deeds of Alamgir). : "His Highness had the quality of perfect perseverance in developing religion with the requirement of happiness. They introduced and strengthened the Hanif school of Imam Azam - Abu Hanifa, the founder of the five pillars of Islam. They were inseparable from the water of ablution, sweet-smelling and at other times polite in business and greetings. They performed the obligatory prayers in a mosque, in a place where there was no mosque, with a group, obeying all their sunnah, nafl and mustahab. They fasted on many lunar and solar days and on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays of the week, and performed Friday prayers together with all believers in the mosque. They used to spend the night awake in the blessed nights and enjoy the light of God's interest that increases the prosperity of the religion and the state. Finally, because of truthfulness, they used to talk with their friends at night in the maqsura of the mosque of the state house. They did not even look at the throne in Khilvat...
They spent the holy month of Ramadan fasting, and until the end of the month, they were engaged in performing the Sunnah, perfecting, reading the letter of Kalamullah and explaining the Holy Qur'an to the community until the second half of the night. At the end of the conversation, they would do itikaf in the mosque. The performance of the Hajj ritual in the holy memory was fully and properly manifested... During the reign of the two Harams, they sent large sums of money to their pilgrims, sometimes in a year, sometimes in two or three years...
They did not wear unfashionable clothes and did not use silver and gold ornaments at all. In the palace, which is considered to be an ancient destination, never a single word of gossip, corruption and falsehood was spoken, and it is a bright place - the servants of the palace, if there is gossip in the word at the time of presentation, let them express it with wonderful expressions. , they were taught. Two or three times a day, the dean of justice and justice stood with open face and gentleness, came to the court of justice in droves without any hindrance, and without any fear or fear of His Majesty's extremely attentive hearing. They gave justice to those who wanted justice...
Benevolence, grace, and grace were fulfilled to such an extent that not even a tenth of this had happened among the previous sultans and kings. And in the holy month of Ramadan sixty thousand rupees and in other months a little less money was sent to the rightful. There were many restaurants in the Darul-Khilafate (capital) and other cities to feed the poor and the poor. Where there were no rabots and palaces to accommodate travelers and tourists, they immediately appeared. In order to repair the mosques in the Sultanate, imams and muezzins were appointed from the Fayzasar Palace, accordingly, a lot of money and gold coins were spent on these works. The nobles in all the cities and villages of this vast country provided the mudarris with a daily salary, land and water according to their duties, and provided high-level household conditions and means for the students of knowledge...
One of the perfections of His Holiness's profession was studying religious sciences, including tafsir, hadith, and fiqh, adorning his God-given status. Hujjat-ul-Islam always read the books of Muhammad Ghazali and other great sheikhs. One of the great qualities of that pious khagan was the development of memorization of the Word of God Almighty. If in the initial state of the state and Iqbal, only some chapters of the Noble Qur'an were recited and memorized by memory with great attention, then the complete memorization of the Word of God was carried out after the accession to the throne of the kingdom, and the whole struggle It shined brightly in glorious memory with speed and royal determination...
The content of ul shah latif's morals, chosen by the world and peoples, does not fit into the scope of the editorial, and the limit of the description is extremely limitless. How can you explain to a poor person like me, whose intelligence is completely defective, by describing and explaining everything that is praiseworthy?!"
Avrangzeb Alamgir himself was not only endowed with beautiful qualities, high morals and perfect enlightenment, but he also brought up his offspring in accordance with the Qur'an and Sunnah. Aurangzeb had five sons and five daughters from different wives. All of them were brought up as princes with commendable qualities and begums with chastity.
The last great Timurid leader, Aurangzeb Alamgir, died in Ahmedabad in 1707 at the age of 90 after almost fifty years of rule. He was buried near Aurangabad. Later, his body was moved to Davlatabad and buried not in a luxurious mausoleum, but in a simple tomb with a marble slab.
Before his death, Aurangzeb wrote his will to his sons: “I came into this world alone and I am leaving alone. I don't even know who I am and what I've done. Days spent left behind only regrets. I could not establish any government, nor could I provide for the care of the subjects. In the end, the precious life was spent on useless things.
Thus, Aurangzeb Alamgir ascended the throne one hundred and fifty years after his grandfather Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, who founded a huge empire in the Indian region, and this dynasty ruled for another one hundred and fifty years after Aurangzeb. After Aurangzeb's death, his sons ruled the Babur kingdom. But because they did not resemble their fathers in capacity and activity, they became puppet rulers and weak puppets of various feudal groups who fought with each other. At this time, the British colonists started their insidious and dangerous "game" in order to capture the rich and beautiful Babur kingdom.
