Editing Aurangzeb (section)

==Assessments and legacy==
Aurangzeb's rule has been the subject of both praise and controversy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Truschke |first=Audrey |title=Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-5036-0259-5 |chapter=Chapter 1: Introducing Aurangzeb |quote=Some follow the Indian line that Aurangzeb was a straight-up bigot, whereas others view him as one of the few truly righteous Muslim rulers of old. |access-date=17 November 2018 |chapter-url=https://www.sup.org/books/extra/?id=28067&i=Chapter%201.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Balabanlilar |first1=Lisa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQmcDQAAQBAJ&pg=PG129 |title=Imperial Identity in the Mughal Empire: Memory and Dynastic Politics in Early Modern South and Central Asia |date=2015 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-0-85773-246-0 |page=129 |language=en}}</ref> During his lifetime, victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to 4 million square kilometres,<ref name="Taagepera" /> and he ruled over a population estimated to be over 158 million subjects.<ref name="borocz" /><!--with an annual revenue of $450 million (more than ten times that of his contemporary [[Louis XIV of France]]) in 1690.<ref>{{pn|date=December 2020}}  --> His critics argue that his ruthlessness and religious bigotry made him unsuitable to rule the mixed population of his empire.  Some critics assert that the persecution of [[Shia]]s, [[Sufi]]s and non-Muslims to impose practices of orthodox Islamic state, such as imposition of sharia and ''[[jizya]]'' religious tax on non-Muslims, doubling of custom duties on Hindus while abolishing it for Muslims, executions of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and destruction of temples eventually led to numerous rebellions.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Pletcher |editor-first=Kenneth |year=2010 |title=The History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdmcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 |publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing |page=183 |isbn=978-1-61530-201-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Joseph |editor-first=Paul |year=2016 |title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idw0DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA433 |publisher=Sage Publications |pages=432–433 |isbn=978-1-4833-5988-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=R.K. |last2=Bakshi |first2=S.R. |year=2008 |title=Dalit Literature: Our Response |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLQeSBLpUwsC&pg=PA77 |publisher=Sarup & Sons |page=77 |isbn=978-81-7625-841-8}}</ref><ref name=bitory4>{{cite book |editor-last1=Shakir |editor-first1=Moin |year=1989 |title=Religion State And Politics in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_gQAQAAIAAJ |publisher=Ajanta Publications (India) |page=47 |isbn=978-81-202-0213-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Upshur |first1=Jiu-Hwa L. |last2=Terry |first2=Janice J. |last3=Holoka |first3=Jim |year=2011 |title=Cengage Advantage Books: World History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBo-2D0TKUcC&pg=PA527 |publisher=Cengage Learning |page=527 |isbn=978-1-111-34514-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chua |first=Amy |year=2009 |title=Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0307472450 |publisher=[[Random House|Anchor Books]] |page=189 |isbn=978-0-307-47245-8}}</ref> G. N. Moin Shakir and Sarma Festschrift argue that he often used political opposition as pretext for religious persecution,<ref name=bitory4/> and that, as a result, groups of [[Jat people|Jats]], [[Maratha Empire|Marathas]], [[Sikh]]s, [[Satnami]]s and [[Pashtuns]] rose against him.<ref name="Edwardes1930"/><ref name=bitory4/><ref>{{cite book |last=Agrawal |first=Ashvini |year=1983 |title=Studies in Mughal History |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=8120823265 |page=15 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-2326-6}}</ref>

Multiple interpretations of Aurangzeb's life and reign over the years by critics have led to a very complicated legacy. Some argue that his policies abandoned his predecessors' legacy of pluralism and religious tolerance, citing his introduction of the ''[[jizya]]'' tax and other policies based on [[Islamic ethics]]; his demolition of [[Hindu temple]]s; the executions of his elder brother [[Dara Shikoh]], [[Sambhaji|King Sambhaji]] of [[Maratha Kingdom|Maratha]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mehta |first1=J. L. |year=2005 |title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India: Volume One: 1707–1813 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&pg=PA47 |publisher=Sterling Publishers |page=47 |isbn=978-1-932705-54-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bhattacherje |first1=S. B. |year=2009 |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Events & Dates |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGVSvXuCsyUC&pg=SL1-PA81 |publisher=Sterling Publishers |pages=A80–A81 |isbn=978-81-207-4074-7}}</ref> and [[Guru Tegh Bahadur|Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur]]<ref>Abraham Eraly (2000), ''Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Mughals'', Penguin Books, {{ISBN|978-0-14-100143-2}}, pp. 398–399. According to Abraham Eraly, "in 1670, all temples around Ujjain were destroyed" and later "300 temples were destroyed in and around Chitor, Udaipur and Jaipur" among other Hindu temples destroyed elsewhere in campaigns through 1705.<br /><br />Avari writes, "Aurangzeb's religious policy caused friction between him and the ninth Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur. In both Punjab and Kashmir the Sikh leader was roused to action by Aurangzeb's excessively zealous Islamic policies. Seized and taken to Delhi, he was called upon by Aurangzeb to embrace Islam and, on refusal, was tortured for five days and then beheaded in November 1675. Two of the ten Sikh gurus thus died as martyrs at the hands of the Mughals. (Avari (2013), p. 115)</ref>{{efn|See also [http://www.aurangzeb.info/ "Aurangzeb, as he was according to Mughal Records"]; more links at the bottom of that page. For Muslim historian's record on major Hindu temple destruction campaigns, from 1193 to 1729 AD, see Richard Eaton (2000), "Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States", ''Journal of Islamic Studies'', Vol. 11, Issue 3, pp. 283–319}} and the prohibition and supervision of behaviour and activities that are [[Haram|forbidden in Islam]] such as gambling, fornication, and consumption of alcohol and narcotics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haroon |first=Asif |title=Muhammad Bin Qasim to General Pervez Musharraf: Triumphs, Tribulations |publisher=Sang-e-Meel |year=2004 |isbn=978-969-35-1624-1 |location=Lahore |page=70 |quote=To start with, Aurangzeb gradually transformed the system of governance as per the dictates of Shariah ... He curbed practices of gambling, drinking, music and prostitution}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Mughal dynasty {{!}} History, Map, & Facts |work=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mughal-dynasty |access-date=2018-10-06}}</ref> At the same time, some historians question the historical authenticity of the claims of his critics, arguing that his destruction of temples has been exaggerated,{{sfn|Avari|2013|p=115 |ps=: citing a 2000 study, writes "Aurangzeb was perhaps no more culpable than most of the sultans before him; they desecrated the temples associated with Hindu power, not all temples. It is worth noting that, in contrast to the traditional claim of hundreds of Hindu temples having been destroyed by Aurangzeb, a recent study suggests a modest figure of eighty destructions."}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Truschke |first=Audrey |year=2017 |title=Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUUkDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=85 |isbn=978-1-5036-0259-5 |quote=Nobody knows the exact number of temples demolished or pillaged on Aurangzeb's orders, and we never will. Richard Eaton, the leading authority on the subject, puts the number of confirmed temple destructions during Aurangzeb's rule at just over a dozen, with fewer tied to the emperor's direct commands. Other scholars have pointed out additional temple demolitions not counted by Eaton, such as two orders to destroy the Somanatha Temple in 1659 and 1706 (the existence of a second order suggests that the first was never carried out). Aurangzeb also oversaw temple desecrations. For example, in 1645 he ordered mihrabs (prayer niches, typically located in mosques) erected in Ahmedabad's Chintamani Parshvanath Temple, built by the Jain merchant Shantidas. Even adding in such events, however, to quote Eaton, "the evidence is almost always fragmentary, incomplete, or even contradictory". Given this, there were probably more temples destroyed under Aurangzeb than we can confirm (perhaps a few dozen in total?), but here we run into a dark curtain drawn across an unknown past.}}</ref> he paid for temple maintenance, and in the latter half of his reign employed significantly more Hindus, especially Marathas, in his imperial bureaucracy than his predecessors and opposed bigotry against Hindus and [[Shia Muslims]] in imperial service.<ref name="ATT">{{cite book |last=Truschke |first=Audrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGwlDgAAQBAJ&dq=But+between+1679+and+1707+Aurangzeb+increased+Hindu+participation&pg=PT21 |title=Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-5036-0259-5 |pages=55–58 |quote=That percentage [of Hindus in imperial service] ... in the first twenty-one years of Aurangzeb's reign (1658-79), it stayed level at 21.6 percent. But between 1679 and 1707 Aurangzeb increased Hindu participation at the elite levels ... to 31.6 percent of the Mughal nobility...Even in later years [in the aftermath of a failed attempt to scale back Hindu officers to appease other noble groups], however, Aurangzeb persisted in his view that there ought to be no religious litmus test for Mughal employment. One time, a Muslim from Bukhara who entered Mughal service in the late 1680s petitioned the emperor to deny imperial advancement to Persians on the grounds that they were Shias, not Sunnis. Aurangzeb rejected the proposal and opined, "What connection have earthly affairs with religion? And what right have administrative works to meddle with bigotry? 'For  you is your religion and for me is mine.' If this rule [suggested by you] were established, it would be my duty to extirpate all the (Hindu) Rajahs and their followers. Wise men disapprove of the removal from office of able officers."}}</ref>

[[Muhammad Al-Munajjid]] has argued that the opinions from Islamic scholarly community towards Aurangzeb were positive because of the emperor's general attitude and actions, such as abolishing [[Bid'ah]] celebrations, musics, and  the customs of bowing and kissing the ground which were done by his predecessors, practically adhering to the practice of [[Atharism|Salafi]] while still held to Hanafite creed.{{#tag:ref|through [[IslamQA.info]],<ref>{{cite web |author1=Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid |title=Biography of the Moghul ruler Aurangzeb; was he Salafi in his 'aqeedah? |url=https://islamqa.info/en/answers/174824/biography-of-the-moghul-ruler-aurangzeb-was-he-salafi-in-his-aqeedah |website=IslamQA |access-date=19 September 2023 |language=en |date=18 April 2015}}</ref> Professor Muhammad al-Munajjid on his online correspondence has answered that he based his opinion ''Silk ad-Durar fi A'yaan al-Qarn ath-Thaani 'Ashar (4/113)''<ref>{{cite book |author1=Muhammad Khalil Al-Muradi |title=سلك الدرر في أعيان القرن الثاني عشر |date=1997 |publisher=Dar al Kutub al 'Alamiyya |page=113 |url=https://www.neelwafurat.com/itempage.aspx?id=lbb78642-39113&search=books |access-date=19 September 2023 |language=Ar}}</ref> and Aurangzeb biography by Professor 'Abd al-Mun'im an-Nimr in his book ''Tareekh al-Islam fi'l-Hind''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nimr |first1='Abd al-Mun'im |title=Tarikh al-Islam fi al-Hind |date=1981 |publisher=Beirut : Al-Mu'ssasah al-Jam'iyah al-Dirasat wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzi |pages=286–288 |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2000399 |access-date=19 September 2023 |language=En}}</ref>
|group="Notes"}} Apparently this view of Aurangzeb were influenced by [[Muhammad Saleh Kamboh]],<ref>{{cite web |author1=Deepaj Kamboj |title=Shaikh Inayat-Allah Kamboh |url=https://www.kambojsociety.com/post/shaikh-inayat-allah-kamboh#_note-3 |website=KambojSociety.com |publisher=Kamboj Society |access-date=18 November 2023 |language=En |date=3 September 2014 |quote=Modern Asian Studies 1988, p. 308; Cambridge University Press Online Journals. Asia Shah Jahan, 1975, p. 131, Henry Miers Elliot – Mogul Empire}}</ref> who acted as his teacher.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Mohammad Nurul Alam Rafiq Ahmed |author2=Rafiq Ahmed |title=World Heritage & Records of Sufism Volume – II |date=2010 |publisher=World Spiritual Assembly |isbn=978-0-615-37164-1 |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10824048-world-heritage-records-of-sufism-volume-ii |access-date=18 November 2023 |language=en |format=paperback}}</ref>

In [[Pakistan]], author Haroon Khalid writes that, "Aurangzeb is presented as a hero who fought and expanded the frontiers of the Islamic empire" and "is imagined to be a true believer who removed corrupt practices from religion and the court, and once again purified the empire."<ref>Haroon Khalid (1 October 2018), "In India and Pakistan, religion makes one country's hero the other's villain", ''Quartz India''. Retrieved 21 April 2019.</ref> The academic Munis Faruqui also opines that the "Pakistani state and its allies in the religious and political establishments include him in the pantheon of premodern Muslim heroes, especially lauding him for his militarism, personal piety, and seeming willingness to accommodate Islamic morality within state goals."<ref>Munis D. Faruqui "Book review of ''Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King''" in ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', Volume 87, Issue 1, March 2019, p. 300</ref>

[[Muhammad Iqbal]], considered the spiritual founder of Pakistan, admired Aurangzeb. Iqbal Singh Sevea, in his book on the [[political philosophy]] of the thinker, says that "Iqbal considered that the life and activities of Aurangzeb constituted the starting point of [[Muslim nationalism in South Asia|Muslim nationality in India]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sevea |first1=Iqbal Singh |title=The Political Philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal: Islam and Nationalism in Late Colonial India |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=168 |isbn=978-1-107-00886-1}}</ref> [[Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]], in his funeral oration, hailed [[M.A. Jinnah]], the founder of Pakistan, to be the greatest Muslim since Aurangzeb.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dhulipala |first1=Venkat |title=Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India |year=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=489 |isbn=978-1-107-05212-3}}</ref> Pakistani-American academic [[Akbar Ahmed]] described President [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq|Zia-ul-Haq]], known for his [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization|Islamization]] drive, as "conceptually ... a spiritual descendent of Aurangzeb" because Zia had an orthodox, legalistic view of Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ahmed |first1=Akbar S. |author-link=Akbar Ahmed |year=2002 |orig-date= 1987 |title=Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society |edition=Rev. |publisher=Routledge |page=82 |isbn=978-0-415-28525-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Irfani |first=Suroosh |date=July–December 1996 |title=Review Article: Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society |url=http://pjhc.nihcr.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/10-Review-Article.pdf |journal=Pakistan Journal of History and Culture |volume=13 |issue=2 |page=116}}</ref>

[[Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy]], a grand mufti of [[Egypt]], once called Aurangzeb as "A remnant of the [[Rashidun|Rightly-Guided Rashidun Caliphs]]", as appreciation of Aurangzeb commitment to Islam teaching.<ref>{{cite book |author1=فريق بصمة |title=التاريخ كما كان |date=October 2016 |publisher=كتوبيا للنشر والتوزيع |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nIBjDwAAQBAJ |access-date=4 December 2023 |language=Ar |format=ebook |quote=... الطنطاوي بأنه "بقية الخلفاء الراشدين"، وقد كان على دراية كاملة بمخططات الهندوس والشيعة، خصوصا الأفغان منهم، فحارب ...}}</ref>

Beyond the individual appreciations, Aurangzeb is seminal to Pakistan's national self-consciousness, as historian [[Ayesha Jalal]], while referring to the [[Pakistani textbooks controversy]], mentions M. D. Zafar's ''A Text Book of Pakistan Studies'' where we can read that, under Aurangzeb, "Pakistan spirit gathered in strength", while his death "weakened the Pakistan spirit."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jalal |first=Ayesha |date=February 1995 |title=Conjuring Pakistan: History as Official Imagining |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=27 |issue=1 |page=79|doi=10.1017/S0020743800061596 |s2cid=162731882 }}</ref> Another historian from Pakistan, [[Mubarak Ali]], also looking at the textbooks, and while noting that Akbar "is conveniently ignored and not mentioned in any school textbook from class one to matriculation", contrasts him with Aurangzeb, who "appears in different textbooks of Social Studies and Urdu language as an orthodox and pious Muslim copying the Holy Quran and sewing caps for his livelihood."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ali |first=Mubarak |date=September–October 1992 |title=Akbar in Pakistani Textbooks |journal=Social Scientist |volume=20 |issue=9/10 |pages=73–76 |doi=10.2307/3517719 |jstor=3517719 }}</ref> This image of Aurangzeb is not limited to Pakistan's official historiography.

As of 2015, about 177 towns and villages of India have been named after Aurangzeb.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shaikh |first=Zeeshan |title=A capital road gone, Mughal king Aurangzeb lives in 177 towns and villages |work=The Indian Express |date=2015-09-05 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/a-capital-road-gone-aurangzeb-lives-in-177-towns-and-villages/ |access-date=2023-07-01}}</ref> Historian [[Audrey Truschke]] points out that [[Bharatiya Janta Party]] (BJP), Hindutva proponents and some others outside Hindutva ideology regard Aurangzeb as Muslim zealot in India. [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] wrote that, due to his reversal of the cultural and religious syncretism of the previous Mughal emperors, Aurangzeb acted "more as a Moslem than an Indian ruler".<ref>{{cite book |last=Truschke |first=Audrey |year=2017 |title=Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=7 |isbn=978-1-5036-0259-5}}</ref> [[Mahatma Gandhi]] was of the view that there was greater degree of freedom under Mughal rule than the British rule and asks that "in Aurangzeb's time a Shivaji could flourish. Has one hundred and fifty years of the British rule produced any [[Maharana Pratap|Pratap]] and Shivaji?"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hasan |first=Farhat |title=Nationalist representations of the Mughal state: The views of Tilak and Gandhi |journal=Studies in People's History |publisher=Sage Publications |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=2019-05-16 |issn=2348-4489 |doi=10.1177/2348448919834791 |pages=52–62 |s2cid=182002531}}</ref> Other historians also noting that there are Hindu temples built during Aurangzeb reign,<ref name="Copland2013">{{Cite book |last1=Copland |first1=Ian |title=A History of State and Religion in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWcZulI5tL0C&pg=PA119 |last2=Mabbett |first2=Ian |last3=Roy |first3=Asim |last4=Brittlebank |first4=Kate |last5=Bowles |first5=Adam |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-45950-4 |page=119 |display-authors=3}}</ref> while he also employed significantly more [[Hindus]] in his imperial bureaucracy than his predecessors did, opposed bigotry against Hindus and [[Shia Muslims]].<ref name=ATT/>

=== Literatures ===
Aurangzeb has prominently featured in the following books
* 1675 – ''[[Aureng-zebe]]'', play by [[John Dryden]], written and performed on the London stage during the Emperor's lifetime.
* 1688 – Alamgirnama by Mirza Mohammed Qasim official biographer at Aurangzeb's court<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/history-of-india-as-told-by-its-own-historians/alamgirnama-of-muhammad-kazim/01D357035F5F4EC3BA6AC42AE2F3D1F0 | doi=10.1017/CBO9781139507202.014 | chapter=''ʾÁlamgír-náma'' , of Muhammad Kázim | title=The History of India, as Told by its Own Historians | series=Cambridge Library Collection – Perspectives from the Royal Asiatic Society | date=2013 | volume=7 | pages=174–180 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-1-139-50720-2 }}</ref>  
* 19?? – Hindi fiction novel by [[Acharya Chatursen Shastri]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/entertainment/Understanding-Aurangzeb/article14434624.ece|title=Understanding Aurangzeb|last=Lokapally|first=Vijay|date=21 June 2016|work=The Hindu|access-date=13 December 2017|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>
* 1970 – ''[[Shahenshah (novel)|Shahenshah]]'' ({{langx|mr|शहेनशहा}}), the [[Marathi language|Marathi]] fictional biography by [[Nagnath S. Inamdar|N S Inamdar]]; translated into English in 2017 by Vikrant Pande as ''Shahenshah – The Life of Aurangzeb''
* 2017 – ''1636: Mission to the Mughals'', by [[Eric Flint]] and Griffin Barber
* 2018 – ''Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth'', by [[Audrey Truschke]]