Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak Quotes
1551–1602 India
- India
- Historians
- Non-fiction authors
Also known as: Abul Fazl
Random Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak quote
14 quotes
The king, in his wisdom, understood the spirit of the age, and shaped his plans accordingly.
For a long time past scarce any trace of them (Buddhists) has existed in Hindustan.
The compassionate heart of his majesty finds no pleasure in cruelties or in causing sorrow to others; he is ever sparing of the lives of his subjects, wishing to bestow happiness upon all.
If royalty did not exist, the storm of strife would never subside, nor selfish ambition disappear. Mankind (is) under the burden of lawlessness and lust…
A man should marry four wives: A Persian to have someone to talk to; a Khurasani woman for his housework; a Hindu for nursing his children; a woman from Mawaraun nahr, or Transoxiana, to have someone to whip as a warning to the other three.
The number of Hindu painters was large. Their artistic skill made Abul Fazl exclaim that “their pictures surpass our conception of things.”
The third time that the writer accompanied His Majesty to the delightful valley of Kashmir, he met with a few old men of this persuasion, but saw none among the learned.
No dignity is higher in the eyes of God than royalty… Royalty is a light emanating from God, and a ray from the sun, the illuminator of the universe.
The religion of thousands consists in clinging to an idea; they are happy in their sloth.... many would observe silence from fear of fanatics.
The Hindus worship only one God. At any religious function, the Hindus utter the dominion of one God and to Him they direct the offerings of every religious ritual or observance whatever be its form. It is only fools who call the Hindus as idolators on the ground that they offer their devotion through some image built of stone or wood.
[Hindus are] “religious, affable, cheerful, lovers of justice, given to retirement, able in business, admirers of truth, grateful, and of unbounded fidelity.”
Akbar had prohibited enslavement and sale of women and children of peasants who had defaulted in payment of revenue. He knew, as Abul Fazl says, that many evil hearted and vicious men either because of ill-founded suspicion or sheer greed, used to proceed to villages and mahals and sack them.
“Ayodhyã, commonly called Awadh. The distance of forty kos to the east, and twenty to the north is regarded as sacred ground. On the ninth of the light half of the month of Chaitra a great religious festival is held.” (Sacred Places of Pilgrimage.)
If a horse lost condition, the fines came down to the water carriers and sweepers employed in the stable. When an elephant died through neglect, the attendants (some of whom drew less than three rupees a month) had to pay the price of the animal.