Safavid Empire Religion

I find the role of religion in government quite interesting. In a previous lesson we learned about the Byzantine and Persian Empires and how they served as patrons for religious orthodoxies. Now as we start to discuss more about post-Muhammad Islam, we learn about the empires that served as the patrons for Islam. Religion seems to be the primary foundation for the rise and success for many of these empires, but in the 21st century religion does not serve this same purpose. The Safavid Empire was govern by and for Shiite Muslims, the Mughul Empire is quite distinct in that it seemed to be fueled by religious tolerance, so it was a hybrid of Islam and Hinduism, and the Ottoman Empire is also noteworthy as Robinson describes it as the “mightiest of the three”, most likely due

The Mughul’s took over an area that was predominately Hindu and Islam was a minority. The primary framework of the Mughol Empire relied on Hindu cooperation and with that ruler Akbar had to promote religious tolerance, in what Robinson describes as a tactic used by previous rulers to defend Islam. Akbar abolished a discriminatory tax that targeted Hindu Pilgrimage and “jizya”, another tax that was for non-believers in Muslim territories. Akbar also replaced the use of the Islamic lunar calendar and prevented Muslims from killing or eating cows in favor of the Hindus (Robinson, 61). The religious tolerance exhibited by Akbar and other rulers, reminds me of how America tries to implement the removal of Church and State and I would also compare Akbar’s form of governmental ruling to a liberal government, versus a traditional, conservative government that we would stereotypically assume during this time. I strongly believe that through the implementation of religious tolerance, the Moghuls were able to keep increasing their territory and