WI:Akbar converts to Sikhism

Just not possible. Sikhism was a largely ethnic religion and had very different values to Din-e-Ilahi. Sikhism is more like Hinduism and is a Punjabi religion, and Din-e-Ilahi is more like Islam and is a Persianized religion.

But using high amounts of handwavium, if he did this, he would be even less successful and he may cause a die-off of Sikhism as Punjabis would associate it with the Mughals.
 
This is what happened when he visited the 3rd Guru:

Sikh Wiki said:
Akbar was a famous king of India. He was a kind and good king and respected the Sikh Gurus for their sensible practises and their fair and just teachings. In the year 1569, Akbar came to the Punjab and wanted to see the Guru.

So he sent a message to Guru Amar Das ji that he was coming to visit him. The Sikhs were very happy at the news. Some Sikhs thought that special arrangements should be made to welcome the king. But the Guru said, "Akbar is as much a human being as others are. The Guru's place is open to all. The king and his subjects, the Hindus and the Muslims, the rich and the poor are all equal here. So Akbar will be welcomed like all other visitors to the Guru's place and special arrangements need not be made."

The king, along with the Rajah of Haripur, arrived in Goindwal where the Guru lived. The Guru and a few Sikhs received them warmly. They were shown round the place. Akbar was interested to know how the Guru's Langar was run. Simple food was served to all in the Guru's Langar. It remained open day and night.

Travellers, beggars, and strangers, as well as the followers of the Guru, were all served with food. Whatever was left was thrown to the cattle and birds so that nothing was wasted. The Guru had given an order that all persons coming to visit his place must have their food in the Langar (when hungry). There they were to sit in rows (Pangat) as equals and were to be served simple food in turn. Akbar and the Rajah of Haripur took their meals in the Guru's Langar. They sat among the common people in a row as the Sikhs served them food. They enjoyed the simple food and were very happy. Akbar liked the working of the Guru's Langar very much.

Before leaving, Akbar said to the Guru,

"I like Guru Nanak's religion very much and I respect you for your teachings. I want to make a grant of land for running the Langar. Would you mind it!".The Guru replied,

"Dear Akbar, I am very glad you like the path of Baba Nanak. I am also grateful to you for your offer of a grant of land for the Langar, but I am sorry I cannot accept it because the Guru likes all to work hard to earn (Kirt Karni) and to share their honest earnings (Wand Chakna) with others, by giving something to the Langar from their honest earnings to help others.

As such, the Guru's langar is the people's (Sangat's) Langar and it must be run on people's free gifts and not on a royal grant. That is why all share equally in the Guru's Langar and no one is looked upon as an outsider. In the Guru's Langar, each gives as much as we can spare and takes as much as he/she needs. Here, there is no difference between kings and beggars. All sit together; and eat simple food served with loving care."

Akbar liked the Guru's idea very much. Akbar had made up his mind to do something for the house of Nanak. He presented the land of Amritsar to Bhani the daughter of Guru Amar Das as gift in her marriage.

Likewise I would add that he also did a lot in improving relations with the Hindus of India as well such as scrapping te Jizra tax on Non-Muslims.

Sikhism and Islam likewise share quite a lot in common with each other, both believe in the "One God" concept, both reject Idol Worship, both link politics and milltary matters with religion, both only pray to God alone, both have used music in the context of faith, both take helping the poor and needy very seriously, both state that (unlike Christianity) that one does not need to avoid having a family life to be faithful, both reject the caste system and a ordained priesthood as well as intoxicants. They even share a sense that whatever race you are, we are all the same.

What they do differ on in that Sikhism is more clear that all races, religions and genders are equal, Islam does do the former, many Muslim rulers have shown tolerance to Non-Muslims and it does go a fair way in relation to equality to Women. It is just that Sikhism is more clear on this matter.

Sikhism unlike Islam rejects riutual impunity, circumcision,bigamy (although with the latter it was done in the context of Arab Customs and circumstances), fasting and pilgrimages (although the latter does give exceptions to those without the finances or health to do such a journey).
 
But is fjihr right that Sikhism is an ethnic religion and that it was therefore impossible that Akbar could become a Sikh? I do not know much about Sikhism, mostly what I have read when reading about Indian history, but I was under the impression that it is a universal religion.
 
But is fjihr right that Sikhism is an ethnic religion and that it was therefore impossible that Akbar could become a Sikh? I do not know much about Sikhism, mostly what I have read when reading about Indian history, but I was under the impression that it is a universal religion.

It's my understanding that Sikhism readily accepts converts (unlike a true ethnic religion like the Druze) but they don't really proselytize, meaning that most practitioners are Punjabi.
 
It's my understanding that Sikhism readily accepts converts (unlike a true ethnic religion like the Druze) but they don't really proselytize, meaning that most practitioners are Punjabi.

As far as I am aware the Sikh Faith does not really encourage such missionary work, in fact Sikhs in history have fought to protect the religious freedoms of other faiths.
 
As far as I am aware the Sikh Faith does not really encourage such missionary work, in fact Sikhs in history have fought to protect the religious freedoms of other faiths.

From what I have read, it seems that Sikhism changed a bit in the period after Akbar, when persecution increased, so if it had not been persecuted, it might have developed differently than in OTL. Particularly Akbars grandson, Aurangzeb, was far less tolerant than Akbar. About missionary activities, this wouldn´t limit the freedom of other religions as long as no one was forcibly converted. If Akbar became a Sikh, I would believe this would make the religion more popular, as it would probably be favoured. Of course an important factor would be how later emperors would relate to religion. If they also had been Sikhs, I would assume that there would be far more Sikhs than it is now.
 
Last edited:
From what I have read, it seems that Sikhism changed a bit in the period after Akbar, when persecution increased, so if it had not been persecuted, it might have developed differently than in OTL. Particularly Akbars grandson, Aurangzeb, was far less tolerant than Akbar. About missionary activities, this wouldn´t limit the freedom of other religions as long as no one was forcibly converted. If Akbar became a Sikh, I would believe this would make the religion more popular, as it would probably be favoured. Of course an important factor would be how later emperors would relate to religion. If they also had been Sikhs, I would assume that there would be far more Sikhs than it is now.

If the Mughal Empire became the Sikh Empire then I could see that religous unity could be maintained in the long run and thus a ruler such as Aurangzeb would not likely come about considering one important aspect a Sikh must follow is respect other faiths.

However while there might have been more Sikhs in India due to such an Empire coming about I don't think it would mean that they would be the main faith of Indians in general. Even within the Sikh Empire of OTL only 17% of Sikh while under the British it was around 15% in the Punjab Region.

It was only under Partition and the further breakup of the Indian Punjab that that the Sikhs form a majority in the now far smaller Indian State of Pubjab and even then it is only 60%.

Of course that was after Aurangzeb misruled India so an Akbar led Sikh Faith might be more willing to encourage his subjects to embrace it.
 
I think the importance of religion to Mughal governance is probably overstated most of the time. Loyalty to the Emperor was by far the most important quality that the Mughals demanded of their subjects - and the way the Mughals tried to enforce said loyalty was to strike a balance between the foreign mansabdars (mercenaries) and the local zamindars (landlords), and create a de-localized aristocracy that owed allegiance to the Mughals alone. Whether they were Hindus, Muslims or whatever was really of secondary importance (arguably even in Aurangzeb's reign). If Akbar had converted to Sikhism, these policies would continue - and if Sikhism didn't agree with them, then it was the religion that would change rather than the policies.

That said, I don't see much reason for Akbar to convert to Sikhism. His conversion might encourage more Sikhs (which along with Rajputs were considered the 'top' native infantry) to join the Mughal army, but it's important to note that the Mughals were already enrolling plenty of Sikhs and Hindus in their armies along with Muslims - again, the most important thing for the Mughals was not that these soldiers were of the 'correct' religion, but that they weren't fighting for other people.

That said, if Akbar had converted to Sikhism then I'd expect Sikhism to become much more convergent with Hinduism (maybe shearing away the latter's exclusive tendencies). After all, if Akbar's going to commit apostasy then he might as well do it for maximum effect - and as people here have commented, Sikhism was still in a formative phase back then.

I don't think that changing religions would have immense impact on Mughal development - the powerful Afghan and Central Asian cavalry mansabdars that fuelled Mughal expansion would still be attracted by the wealth of the Mughal court, while the furthest extent of the Empire would still be stymied by geographical features on India's periphery.
 
Last edited:
Well then he tries to get the rest of the important people of the a Rebellion to convert too. The new motto of the faith is "It's A Trap!"

Oh wait. Akbar with a "k" only?
 
Top