Mughals, British and India

The Moghul vs British debate in social media reminded me of the words of Jesus: A tree is known by its fruits.

What did the most ardent Mughal followers of Islam do in India?

As Sadguru pointed out, “Building harems after making kafir women their slaves, destroying Indian traditions, destroying temples & building mosques over them, imposing Jizya tax on the people whom they hated the most & considered them kafir, carrying out mass scale conversions at the point of sword, killing brutally legendary Indians like Guru Teg Bahadur, Sambhaji, etc. etc. just bcoz they refused to accept their religion. These are only few examples of their brutalities. They were extremely intolerant & barbaric. Even Osama Bin Laden was nothing more than a child in front of them.”

That may be an extreme view no doubt but there is a lot of truth in the statement.

What about the British?

As Sadguru said, “they were interested in doing scientific researches & technological innovations & engineering.”

While most of the British were Christians only by name, [most were primarily businessmen and soldiers and some were openly against any faith based activities], there were a few, notably the Evangelicals, who could be called genuine followers or disciples of Christ. [A true disciple of Christ will never use force or inducements to convert anyone, because he believes that God who created us, gave us free will to choose, and He respects it. A genuine change of heart from within is what God desires for all of us.]

What did they do? They sincerely did what they believed was needed for the welfare of Indians.

They built schools, hospitals, orphanages, took care of widows and the out-castes of Indian society out of unconditional love, the same love that motivated Jesus to give His life for us. In general there was a lot of work in the field of public health done by the British.

William Carey, a missionary in Serampore, was instrumental in getting the practice of Sati banned after decades of efforts. The reformation movement in Hinduism also was sparked by those who came in touch with him in Bengal.

So as you can see, the Mughals and the British were very different in a few vital areas.

There is a common misconception about what are called the Abrahamic faiths. Christians and Jews are part of the Abrahamic covenant and worship Yahweh.

On the other hand, Islam is not an Abrahamic faith, and the God they worship, Allah, is in no way connected with the God of the Bible no matter how ardently the Muslims may claim it.

The fruits, I believe, are self-evident.

God bless.