Mughals (Great Mughals) (Timurids). Mongolian dynasty of Turkish origin which ruled in India (r. 1526-1857). Their main capital was Agra. The first Mughal, Babur, was a descendant of Timur on his father’s side, and of Jenghiz Khan on his mother’s side. As ruler of Samarkand in 1497, he conquered Kabul in 1504 and advanced from Afghanistan to India. Following a victory over the Lodi, he became shah of India (northern and central India from 1526 to 1530). His son, Humayun (r. 1530-1556), was driven to Persia by Shir Shah Suri in 1540 and was able to win back his father’s territory only in 1555. The political high point came with the reign of Akbar the Great (r. 1556-1605), who consolidated rule over Hindustan and expanded as far as Bengal in the east, exercising sovereignty over all the Muslim states in India. Akbar operated a policy of tolerance and religious reconciliation between Muslims and Hindus and reorganized the state administration. Under Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) the Mughal territories grew, trade relations with Europe intensified, and immense splendor and sumptiousness was enjoyed. Aurangzib (r. 1658-1707), the last Great Mughal of significance, conquered Bijapur (in 1686) and Golconda (in 1687), but gave up the policy of religious reconciliation in favor of a strictly Sunnite Islam. From the seventeenth century, there was political and, above all, economic pressure from the trading companies of Portugal and England. After 1707, the Mughals became increasingly insignificant. In 1739, Delhi was occupied by Nadir Shah of Persia and in 1803 by the British. The last Mughal was deposed by the British in 1857.
During their reign, the Mughals entertained relations with the Safavids of Persia, had a centralized administration, a thriving economy, and an active commerce both internal and external. As for religious life, Emperor Akbar’s attempt at reconciliation of the major religious trends inside his vast country was only one in the plethora of religious movements during Mughal times. Mughal architecture created a supremely confident style by synthesizing the most heterogenous elements. Central Asian, Timurid, Indian, Persian and European. The manufacture of carpets and textiles flourished, as did painting and the applied arts. Finally, the Mughal period marks the highest point in the development of Persian literature in India.
The following is a list of the Mughal Emperors:
1526 Babur, Zahir al-Din
1530 Humayun, Nasir al-Din (first reign)
1540-1555 Suri sultans of Delhi
1555 Humayun, Nasir al-Din (second reign)
1556 Akbar I, Jalal al-Din
1605 Jahangir, Nur al-Din
1627 Dawar Bakhsh
1628 Shah Jahan I, Shihab al-Din
1657 Murad Bakhsh
1657 Shah Shuja’ (in Bengal until 1660)
1658 Aurangzib ‘Alamgir I, Muhyi al-Din
1707 A‘zam Shah
1707 Kam Bakhsh (in the Deccan)
1707 Shah ‘Alam I Bahadur Shah I
1712 ‘Azim al-Sha’n
1712 Jahandar, Mu‘izz al-Din
1713 Farrukh-siyar
1719 Rafi’ al-Darajat, Shams al-Din
1719 Shah Jahan II, Rafi’ al-Dawla
1719 Niku-siyar
1719 Nasir al-Din Muhammad
1748 Bahadur, Ahmad Shah
1754 ‘Alamgir II, ‘Aziz al-Din
1760 Shah Jahan III
1760
Shah ‘Alam II, Jalal al-Din ‘Ali Jawhar (first reign)
1788 Bidar-bakht
1788 Shah ‘Alam II, Jalal al-Din (second reign)
1806 Akbar II, Mu‘in al-Din
1837-1858 Bahadur Shah II, Siraj al-Din
After 1858 Direct British rule
Mughals comprised an Indian empire founded by Babur (in 1526), which, with a short interregnum under the Surs (1540-1555), continued until the invasion of Nadir Shah (1739). The dynasty formally survived until 1857, when the last emperor, Bahadur Shah, was deposed by the British. Agra was the capital of the empire during most of its earlier period, but during the later years of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), Delhi acquired this status. (Earlier on Fateh-pur Sikri and Lahore served as capitals for short periods.)
Under Babur and Humayun (r. 1530-1556), the empire essentially functioned as a successor to the Lodi kingdom (1451-1526) and ruled an area largely confined within modern Afghanistan, the British North-West Frontier Province and Punjab, and the present Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Extensive conquests by Akbar (r. 1556-1605) brought under subjugation the remaining parts of North India and a significant portion of the Deccan. The process of expansion in the Deccan continued under Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and Shah Jahan, but it was under Aurangzeb (r. 1659-1707) that the maximum limits in the south were reached, the entire peninsula being annexed except for Kerala.
Nonetheless during the same reign, the rise of Maratha power under Shivaji (1627-1680) and his successors began to undermine Mughal authority. Nadir Shah’s invasion (1739) exposed the empire’s full weakness, and thereafter the Mughal emperor ceased to exercise actual control over much of the larger part of the empire. Many potentates in India (including the Marathas and the British East India Company) still thought it politic to bolster their authority by grants of offices from the emperor, but Shah Alam II (r. 1761-1806) became a mere pensioner of the English (1765-1771), of the Marathas (1771-1803), and finally, of the English again, holding sway merely over the Red Fort. The 1857 rebellion gave the empire its last flicker. With the massacre of the princes by the English and exile to Burma of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor, its nominal existence too came to an end.
A centralized, heavily systematized administration was a notable feature of the Mughal Empire. Its basic structure was established by Akbar. At the center, the emperor appointed ministers such as Wakilus Saltanat (after Bairam Khan, a largely titular office, usually unoccupied), the Diwan-i A’la (in charge of grants of mansahs, upkeep of the army, and intelligence service), the Sadrus Sudur (in charge of appointments of the judicial officers and charity grants), and others. These ministers controlled fairly well-organized departments; their subordinates were posted in the provinces (subas). Akbar, too, had been responsible for dividing the whole empire into subas, appointing for each a governor (Sipahsalar, Nazim). The governor’s powers were greatly restricted by his colleagues the Diwan, the Bakhshi, and the Sadr, who were responsible only to the corresponding ministers at the center. Each suba was divided into sarkars, commandants called faujdars were appointed to maintain law and order in the sarkars, through their actual jurisdictions did not always coincide with sarkar boundaries. Each district (pargana) had a Muslim judge (qazi) and two semi-hereditary officials (qanungo and chaudhuri) who were concerned with tax collection.
All higher offices (which until the eighteenth century never became hereditary and had, in actual practice, only short incumbencies) were filled by persons who belonged to the mansab cadre. Each of them held a “rank” (mansab) marked by double numbers, for example, 5,000 zat, 3,000 sawar (now conventionally represented as 5,000/3,000). The lowest mansab was 10/10. The first rank broadly indicated status and personal pay; the second determined the size of military contingent and the pay for it. Thus, every mansab holder was supposed to be a military officer as well: the higher mansab holders were called umara, or commanders. Apart from maintaining his contingent, the mansab holder could be appointed to any office or post, for which he did not receive any additional salary. The mansab was granted by the emperor alone, and a man rose as he received mansab enhancements. Imperial disapproval was usually shown by a reduction in mansabs.
The pay claims of mansab holders were met either in cash or by assignment of transferable jagirs, or revenue assignments. Each area with set limits was assigned a jama (or expected net revenue collection), and the jama of jagirs always had to equal the pay due to the mansab holder. The jagirdar arranged for tax collection through his own establishment of officials (sarkar); the principal revenue collector was called amil. Areas whose revenues were reserved for the Imperial Treasury were called khalisa-i sharifa and administered by imperial officials according to detailed rules. The jagirs were always transferable, and down to Aurangzeb’s death (1707) the transfer system was maintained rigorously.
Land revenue was the empire’s main source of income. The sovereign did not formally claim to be proprietor of the soil, as was alleged by contemporary European travelers (e.g., Bernier), but the land tax was heavy enough -- often half the produce -- to be practically equal to rent. Various methods of revenue assessment and collection were employed, such as simple crop sharing, crop sharing based on land measurement, cash-revenue rates imposed on different crops, lump sum demand on village, and so on. Cash nexus -- an agglomerate of impersonal monetary factors specifically considered as the basis for human relations -- prevailed over large areas. A share was always left for zamindars, or hereditary landed elements, and local officials such as village headmen.
The Mughal court was the nucleus of a splendid flowering of art and culture, based on a blending of Indian and Perso-Islamic traditions. The most visible evidence of this high culture survives in the great buildings the Mughals have left behind. These buildings include such edifices as the palace-city of Fatehpur Sikri (built by Akbar), the forts at Agra and Delhi (built by Akbar and Shah Jahan), and, above all, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan’s queen, Mumtaz Mahal, the celebrated Taj Mahal at Agra.
Under the emperors’ patronage, a distinct school of painting took shape. Descended from the Persian school, it liberally accepted both Indian and European influences. It produced such masters of miniature painting as Abu’l Hasan (who flourished under Akbar), Mansur (Jahangir), and Bichitr (Shah Jahan). Persian was the language of the Mughal court and administration, and Akbar’s court brought together a notable assemblage of Persian writers. The poets Urfi and Faizi have permanent niches in the history of Persian literature. Abu’l Fazl was not only a master of Persian prose (of the very ornate kind) but also a reflective writer, who compiled two distinctive works in Persian, a detailed history of Akbar’s reign (Akbarnama) and a description, largely statistical, of Akbar’s empire and administration (A’in-i Akbari). The Mughals did much to spread the use of Persian. Ultimately, a literary language based on a blending of Hindi and Persian appeared in the eighteenth century in the form of Urdu, whose very name proclaimed its association with the court (urdu means “imperial camp”). Under Akbar, the Mughals patronized a liberal and scientific revival.
Called upon to govern a multi-religious country, Akbar invoked pantheistic principles to justify a semi-divine monarchy, not attached to any particular religion, but designed to secure “peace among all” (sulh-i kul). He had translations made of Hindu religious texts and held discussions with theologians of all faiths, including Jesuits. The tradition was continued by Prince Dara Shikoh (executed in 1659), who not only translated the Upanishads into Persian but also argued that Hinduism and Islam ultimately represented a single truth. Aurangzeb’s orthodox religious policy partly thwarted this movement, but it was revived in the eighteenth century. Akbar displayed some interest in technology, and his minister Fathullah Shirazi invented mechanical devices, but this interest had no sequel. The patronage of astronomy proved more fruitful, leading to the establishment of the great observatories by Raja Jai Singh Sawai (d. 1743), which laid the basis for his great astronomical work, the Zij-i Muhammad shahi.
It is estimated by some that the population of India in 1600 was about 100 million. Other estimates place it at about 150 million. Either way, by 1800, the population was over 200 million. The larger portion of the population lived in villages, the urban component being estimated at about 15 percent of the total population. Agriculture was mainly peasant based, but there was considerable production for the market. This combination has led to revisions of the nineteenth century theories of the pre-colonial village community. It is true, however, that the sale of produce was largely induced by the imposition of the heavy land-revenue demand, which was mainly realized in money. Another feature of the agrarian scene was the presence of a class of hereditary intermediaries called zamindars, whose own fiscal and other rights are now much discussed by scholars. The main claimants to the land revenue were the jagirdars, who constituted the Mughal nobility. Since their jagirs were frequently transferred, the jagirdars tended to extort as much as possible from their temporary assignments, although the Mughal administration tried to impose a number of controls over them. Some have argued that the system tended to destroy the resources of the country and was a cause of the empire’s decline. This, however, is debatable. On the basis of the large income of the jagirdars (as well as the emperor) there arose a flourishing urban economy, with a large craft sector. When direct trade began with Europe, through the Portuguese and then the Dutch (company established, 1602) and the English (1600), India exported large quantities of cotton cloth, silk, spices, indigo, and saltpeter, and it imported mainly silver and much smaller quantities of gold. The bullion imports were intended to raise prices in India and caused a moderate price revolution in the seventeenth century. Mughal India had a uniform currency system based on the silver rupee and a fairly developed indigenous system of commercial credit, bills of exchange, deposit banking, and transport and marine insurance.
Great Mughals see Mughals
Timurids see Mughals
1788 Bidar-bakht
1788 Shah ‘Alam II, Jalal al-Din (second reign)
1806 Akbar II, Mu‘in al-Din
1837-1858 Bahadur Shah II, Siraj al-Din
After 1858 Direct British rule
Mughals comprised an Indian empire founded by Babur (in 1526), which, with a short interregnum under the Surs (1540-1555), continued until the invasion of Nadir Shah (1739). The dynasty formally survived until 1857, when the last emperor, Bahadur Shah, was deposed by the British. Agra was the capital of the empire during most of its earlier period, but during the later years of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658), Delhi acquired this status. (Earlier on Fateh-pur Sikri and Lahore served as capitals for short periods.)
Under Babur and Humayun (r. 1530-1556), the empire essentially functioned as a successor to the Lodi kingdom (1451-1526) and ruled an area largely confined within modern Afghanistan, the British North-West Frontier Province and Punjab, and the present Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Extensive conquests by Akbar (r. 1556-1605) brought under subjugation the remaining parts of North India and a significant portion of the Deccan. The process of expansion in the Deccan continued under Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) and Shah Jahan, but it was under Aurangzeb (r. 1659-1707) that the maximum limits in the south were reached, the entire peninsula being annexed except for Kerala.
Nonetheless during the same reign, the rise of Maratha power under Shivaji (1627-1680) and his successors began to undermine Mughal authority. Nadir Shah’s invasion (1739) exposed the empire’s full weakness, and thereafter the Mughal emperor ceased to exercise actual control over much of the larger part of the empire. Many potentates in India (including the Marathas and the British East India Company) still thought it politic to bolster their authority by grants of offices from the emperor, but Shah Alam II (r. 1761-1806) became a mere pensioner of the English (1765-1771), of the Marathas (1771-1803), and finally, of the English again, holding sway merely over the Red Fort. The 1857 rebellion gave the empire its last flicker. With the massacre of the princes by the English and exile to Burma of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor, its nominal existence too came to an end.
A centralized, heavily systematized administration was a notable feature of the Mughal Empire. Its basic structure was established by Akbar. At the center, the emperor appointed ministers such as Wakilus Saltanat (after Bairam Khan, a largely titular office, usually unoccupied), the Diwan-i A’la (in charge of grants of mansahs, upkeep of the army, and intelligence service), the Sadrus Sudur (in charge of appointments of the judicial officers and charity grants), and others. These ministers controlled fairly well-organized departments; their subordinates were posted in the provinces (subas). Akbar, too, had been responsible for dividing the whole empire into subas, appointing for each a governor (Sipahsalar, Nazim). The governor’s powers were greatly restricted by his colleagues the Diwan, the Bakhshi, and the Sadr, who were responsible only to the corresponding ministers at the center. Each suba was divided into sarkars, commandants called faujdars were appointed to maintain law and order in the sarkars, through their actual jurisdictions did not always coincide with sarkar boundaries. Each district (pargana) had a Muslim judge (qazi) and two semi-hereditary officials (qanungo and chaudhuri) who were concerned with tax collection.
All higher offices (which until the eighteenth century never became hereditary and had, in actual practice, only short incumbencies) were filled by persons who belonged to the mansab cadre. Each of them held a “rank” (mansab) marked by double numbers, for example, 5,000 zat, 3,000 sawar (now conventionally represented as 5,000/3,000). The lowest mansab was 10/10. The first rank broadly indicated status and personal pay; the second determined the size of military contingent and the pay for it. Thus, every mansab holder was supposed to be a military officer as well: the higher mansab holders were called umara, or commanders. Apart from maintaining his contingent, the mansab holder could be appointed to any office or post, for which he did not receive any additional salary. The mansab was granted by the emperor alone, and a man rose as he received mansab enhancements. Imperial disapproval was usually shown by a reduction in mansabs.
The pay claims of mansab holders were met either in cash or by assignment of transferable jagirs, or revenue assignments. Each area with set limits was assigned a jama (or expected net revenue collection), and the jama of jagirs always had to equal the pay due to the mansab holder. The jagirdar arranged for tax collection through his own establishment of officials (sarkar); the principal revenue collector was called amil. Areas whose revenues were reserved for the Imperial Treasury were called khalisa-i sharifa and administered by imperial officials according to detailed rules. The jagirs were always transferable, and down to Aurangzeb’s death (1707) the transfer system was maintained rigorously.
Land revenue was the empire’s main source of income. The sovereign did not formally claim to be proprietor of the soil, as was alleged by contemporary European travelers (e.g., Bernier), but the land tax was heavy enough -- often half the produce -- to be practically equal to rent. Various methods of revenue assessment and collection were employed, such as simple crop sharing, crop sharing based on land measurement, cash-revenue rates imposed on different crops, lump sum demand on village, and so on. Cash nexus -- an agglomerate of impersonal monetary factors specifically considered as the basis for human relations -- prevailed over large areas. A share was always left for zamindars, or hereditary landed elements, and local officials such as village headmen.
The Mughal court was the nucleus of a splendid flowering of art and culture, based on a blending of Indian and Perso-Islamic traditions. The most visible evidence of this high culture survives in the great buildings the Mughals have left behind. These buildings include such edifices as the palace-city of Fatehpur Sikri (built by Akbar), the forts at Agra and Delhi (built by Akbar and Shah Jahan), and, above all, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan’s queen, Mumtaz Mahal, the celebrated Taj Mahal at Agra.
Under the emperors’ patronage, a distinct school of painting took shape. Descended from the Persian school, it liberally accepted both Indian and European influences. It produced such masters of miniature painting as Abu’l Hasan (who flourished under Akbar), Mansur (Jahangir), and Bichitr (Shah Jahan). Persian was the language of the Mughal court and administration, and Akbar’s court brought together a notable assemblage of Persian writers. The poets Urfi and Faizi have permanent niches in the history of Persian literature. Abu’l Fazl was not only a master of Persian prose (of the very ornate kind) but also a reflective writer, who compiled two distinctive works in Persian, a detailed history of Akbar’s reign (Akbarnama) and a description, largely statistical, of Akbar’s empire and administration (A’in-i Akbari). The Mughals did much to spread the use of Persian. Ultimately, a literary language based on a blending of Hindi and Persian appeared in the eighteenth century in the form of Urdu, whose very name proclaimed its association with the court (urdu means “imperial camp”). Under Akbar, the Mughals patronized a liberal and scientific revival.
Called upon to govern a multi-religious country, Akbar invoked pantheistic principles to justify a semi-divine monarchy, not attached to any particular religion, but designed to secure “peace among all” (sulh-i kul). He had translations made of Hindu religious texts and held discussions with theologians of all faiths, including Jesuits. The tradition was continued by Prince Dara Shikoh (executed in 1659), who not only translated the Upanishads into Persian but also argued that Hinduism and Islam ultimately represented a single truth. Aurangzeb’s orthodox religious policy partly thwarted this movement, but it was revived in the eighteenth century. Akbar displayed some interest in technology, and his minister Fathullah Shirazi invented mechanical devices, but this interest had no sequel. The patronage of astronomy proved more fruitful, leading to the establishment of the great observatories by Raja Jai Singh Sawai (d. 1743), which laid the basis for his great astronomical work, the Zij-i Muhammad shahi.
It is estimated by some that the population of India in 1600 was about 100 million. Other estimates place it at about 150 million. Either way, by 1800, the population was over 200 million. The larger portion of the population lived in villages, the urban component being estimated at about 15 percent of the total population. Agriculture was mainly peasant based, but there was considerable production for the market. This combination has led to revisions of the nineteenth century theories of the pre-colonial village community. It is true, however, that the sale of produce was largely induced by the imposition of the heavy land-revenue demand, which was mainly realized in money. Another feature of the agrarian scene was the presence of a class of hereditary intermediaries called zamindars, whose own fiscal and other rights are now much discussed by scholars. The main claimants to the land revenue were the jagirdars, who constituted the Mughal nobility. Since their jagirs were frequently transferred, the jagirdars tended to extort as much as possible from their temporary assignments, although the Mughal administration tried to impose a number of controls over them. Some have argued that the system tended to destroy the resources of the country and was a cause of the empire’s decline. This, however, is debatable. On the basis of the large income of the jagirdars (as well as the emperor) there arose a flourishing urban economy, with a large craft sector. When direct trade began with Europe, through the Portuguese and then the Dutch (company established, 1602) and the English (1600), India exported large quantities of cotton cloth, silk, spices, indigo, and saltpeter, and it imported mainly silver and much smaller quantities of gold. The bullion imports were intended to raise prices in India and caused a moderate price revolution in the seventeenth century. Mughal India had a uniform currency system based on the silver rupee and a fairly developed indigenous system of commercial credit, bills of exchange, deposit banking, and transport and marine insurance.
Great Mughals see Mughals
Timurids see Mughals
Mughira ibn Sa‘id al-Bajali, al-
Mughira ibn Sa‘id al-Bajali, al-. Shi‘a rebel from Kufa from the eighth century. About the time of his revolt in Kufa in 737, he is described as an old man. He was a follower of Muhammad ibn ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin and, after the latter’s death, of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. He taught that he himself was the imam until Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah’s appearance as the Mahdi. He elevated the rank of the ‘Alid imam to divinity. He was put to death by Khalid ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Qasri. The extremist Shi‘a sect of the al-Mughiriyya is named after him.
Mughira ibn Sa‘id al-Bajali, al-. Shi‘a rebel from Kufa from the eighth century. About the time of his revolt in Kufa in 737, he is described as an old man. He was a follower of Muhammad ibn ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin and, after the latter’s death, of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. He taught that he himself was the imam until Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah’s appearance as the Mahdi. He elevated the rank of the ‘Alid imam to divinity. He was put to death by Khalid ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Qasri. The extremist Shi‘a sect of the al-Mughiriyya is named after him.
Mughira ibn Shu‘ba, al-
Mughira ibn Shu‘ba, al- (al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd ath-Thaqafī) (d. 670). Companion of the Prophet. The Prophet sent him to a Ta’if to destroy the sanctuary of al-Lat. The Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab appointed him governor of Basra.
al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd ath-Thaqafī was one of the more prominent companions of Muhammad. He belonged to the tribe of Thaqif of Ta'if.
He became a convert to Islam after the battle of Taif in 628. On conversion to Islam he took part in all the battles. He was a brave fighter. He lost an eye in the battle of Yamama. During the caliphate of Umar, ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān was the Governor of Basra while Mughira was the Deputy Governor. ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān died in 639, and Mughira became the Governor of Basra.
During a Military Expedition two Generals namely Mughira and Nufay ibn al-Harith developed some dispute.
There was already some animosity between Mughira and Ziad ibn Abiya (relative of Abu Bakara Thaqeefi), and the latest dispute added fuel to the fire. During a prayer, Mughira was stopped by Abu Bakar from leading a prayer on the context that Mughira was seen in an Objectionable Position by both Abu Bakara and Ziad so Mughira could not lead a prayer. Both of them also wrote a complaint against Mughira and sent it to Umar in Medina.
Umar called both the parties in Medina and started proceeding in the case. During the proceedings, the witnesses disputed their statement and Ziad ibn Abiya could not prove the statement against Mughira which resulted in 30 Whips on Ziyad. The lashing was itself done by Umar. During the lashing Mughira tried to intervene but he was severely reprimanded by Umar who said to Mughira, be silent, had this testimony been proper you would have also been punished.
Abu Bakrah insisted that Mughira was guilty of fornication with Umm Jamil. Umm Jamil belonged to the same tribe as that of Mughira and was a widow.
The house of Abu Bakra Thaqeefi across the street faced the house of Mughira. One day a strong wind blew and the windows of the houses of Abu Bakra and Mughira got opened through the force of the wind. He saw through the window that in this house Mughira was locked in an uncompromising state with a woman. He thought that the woman was Umm Jamil. He had some friends with him, and they also saw Mughira involved with a woman.
Abu Bakra refused to pray behind Mughira and wrote to Caliph Umar accusing Mughira of adultery. The report was endorsed by four witnesses who had seen Mughira in an uncompromising state with a woman. Umar took prompt action. Umar appointed Abu Musa as the Governor of Basra and removed Mughira from the office. Mughira was summoned to Madinah to face trial. Abu Bakra and the other witnesses who had made the complaint were also summoned to Madinah.
At the trial, Mughira pleaded not guilty. His defense was that the woman in question was his wife and not Umm Jamil. With great indignation he averred that Abu Bakra and the men with him had no right to interfere in his privacy. Abu Bakra on the other hand maintained that the woman was Umm Jamil. Three other witnesses corroborated the statement of Abu Bakra. The fourth witness Ziyad stated that he had seen the event, but he had not seen the face of the woman and did not know who she was. The other witnesses were cross examined, and it was found that there were some weak points in their evidence. They were asked whether the woman had her back or her face toward them. They said that she had their back to them. They tried to make out that even from her back she could be identified as Umm Jamil. They argued that the scandal of Mughira and Umm Jamil was very common in Basra, and that lady was none else but Umm Jamil.
Under the Quranic law in order to press the charge of adultery definite evidence of four witnesses was necessary. As in this case the fourth witness was not sure of the identification of the woman, Mughira was given the benefit of doubt and acquitted. Abu Bakra and his companions who had levelled the charge were punished with lashes for making a charge which could not be established.
After the whipping, Abu Bakrah still said, "I spoke the truth and the man did do what I said."
Umar motioned to whip him again but Ali said, "If you do, then have the other one stoned!" i.e. the testimonials would now amount to four.
In spite of his acquittal, Mughira was not restored to the office of the Governor, and was detained in Madinah. He made some show of indignation at having been treated shabbily in a case which was false. Umar called him to his presence and issued the warning: "O Mughira offer thanks to God that full evidence was not forthcoming against you, and you have been saved from disgrace by a technical flaw. Grounds of suspicion against you were very much there, and I have given you the benefit of doubt. Remember that if the evidence was complete, you would have been stoned to death."
In 643 Umar appointed Mughira as the Governor of Kufa. When Uthman became the Caliph, Mughira continued in his office for one year, and was thereafter deposed to make room for the appointment of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas according to the testament of Umar.
Mughira participated in the migration to Medina and later during Umar's caliphate, he became the governor of Kufa. He was the owner of Abu-Lu'lu'ah, the man who killed Umar.
al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd ath-Thaqafī see Mughira ibn Shu‘ba, al-
Mughira ibn Shu‘ba, al- (al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd ath-Thaqafī) (d. 670). Companion of the Prophet. The Prophet sent him to a Ta’if to destroy the sanctuary of al-Lat. The Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab appointed him governor of Basra.
al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd ath-Thaqafī was one of the more prominent companions of Muhammad. He belonged to the tribe of Thaqif of Ta'if.
He became a convert to Islam after the battle of Taif in 628. On conversion to Islam he took part in all the battles. He was a brave fighter. He lost an eye in the battle of Yamama. During the caliphate of Umar, ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān was the Governor of Basra while Mughira was the Deputy Governor. ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān died in 639, and Mughira became the Governor of Basra.
During a Military Expedition two Generals namely Mughira and Nufay ibn al-Harith developed some dispute.
There was already some animosity between Mughira and Ziad ibn Abiya (relative of Abu Bakara Thaqeefi), and the latest dispute added fuel to the fire. During a prayer, Mughira was stopped by Abu Bakar from leading a prayer on the context that Mughira was seen in an Objectionable Position by both Abu Bakara and Ziad so Mughira could not lead a prayer. Both of them also wrote a complaint against Mughira and sent it to Umar in Medina.
Umar called both the parties in Medina and started proceeding in the case. During the proceedings, the witnesses disputed their statement and Ziad ibn Abiya could not prove the statement against Mughira which resulted in 30 Whips on Ziyad. The lashing was itself done by Umar. During the lashing Mughira tried to intervene but he was severely reprimanded by Umar who said to Mughira, be silent, had this testimony been proper you would have also been punished.
Abu Bakrah insisted that Mughira was guilty of fornication with Umm Jamil. Umm Jamil belonged to the same tribe as that of Mughira and was a widow.
The house of Abu Bakra Thaqeefi across the street faced the house of Mughira. One day a strong wind blew and the windows of the houses of Abu Bakra and Mughira got opened through the force of the wind. He saw through the window that in this house Mughira was locked in an uncompromising state with a woman. He thought that the woman was Umm Jamil. He had some friends with him, and they also saw Mughira involved with a woman.
Abu Bakra refused to pray behind Mughira and wrote to Caliph Umar accusing Mughira of adultery. The report was endorsed by four witnesses who had seen Mughira in an uncompromising state with a woman. Umar took prompt action. Umar appointed Abu Musa as the Governor of Basra and removed Mughira from the office. Mughira was summoned to Madinah to face trial. Abu Bakra and the other witnesses who had made the complaint were also summoned to Madinah.
At the trial, Mughira pleaded not guilty. His defense was that the woman in question was his wife and not Umm Jamil. With great indignation he averred that Abu Bakra and the men with him had no right to interfere in his privacy. Abu Bakra on the other hand maintained that the woman was Umm Jamil. Three other witnesses corroborated the statement of Abu Bakra. The fourth witness Ziyad stated that he had seen the event, but he had not seen the face of the woman and did not know who she was. The other witnesses were cross examined, and it was found that there were some weak points in their evidence. They were asked whether the woman had her back or her face toward them. They said that she had their back to them. They tried to make out that even from her back she could be identified as Umm Jamil. They argued that the scandal of Mughira and Umm Jamil was very common in Basra, and that lady was none else but Umm Jamil.
Under the Quranic law in order to press the charge of adultery definite evidence of four witnesses was necessary. As in this case the fourth witness was not sure of the identification of the woman, Mughira was given the benefit of doubt and acquitted. Abu Bakra and his companions who had levelled the charge were punished with lashes for making a charge which could not be established.
After the whipping, Abu Bakrah still said, "I spoke the truth and the man did do what I said."
Umar motioned to whip him again but Ali said, "If you do, then have the other one stoned!" i.e. the testimonials would now amount to four.
In spite of his acquittal, Mughira was not restored to the office of the Governor, and was detained in Madinah. He made some show of indignation at having been treated shabbily in a case which was false. Umar called him to his presence and issued the warning: "O Mughira offer thanks to God that full evidence was not forthcoming against you, and you have been saved from disgrace by a technical flaw. Grounds of suspicion against you were very much there, and I have given you the benefit of doubt. Remember that if the evidence was complete, you would have been stoned to death."
In 643 Umar appointed Mughira as the Governor of Kufa. When Uthman became the Caliph, Mughira continued in his office for one year, and was thereafter deposed to make room for the appointment of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas according to the testament of Umar.
Mughira participated in the migration to Medina and later during Umar's caliphate, he became the governor of Kufa. He was the owner of Abu-Lu'lu'ah, the man who killed Umar.
al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd ath-Thaqafī see Mughira ibn Shu‘ba, al-
Muhajirun
Muhajirun. Arabic term which refers to the “émigrés” from Mecca who followed Muhammad to Medina. The word muhajirun is from the same root as the word hijra.
Muhajirun. Arabic term which refers to the “émigrés” from Mecca who followed Muhammad to Medina. The word muhajirun is from the same root as the word hijra.
Muhallabi, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-
Muhallabi, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al- (Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Muhallabi) (903-963). Chief minister and vizier to the Buyid amir of Iraq Mu‘izz al-Dawla. His literary circle in Baghdad was frequented by poets and men of letters.
Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Muhallabi see Muhallabi, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-
Muhallabi, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al- (Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Muhallabi) (903-963). Chief minister and vizier to the Buyid amir of Iraq Mu‘izz al-Dawla. His literary circle in Baghdad was frequented by poets and men of letters.
Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Muhallabi see Muhallabi, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-
Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, al-
Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, al- (632-702). Arab general and the founder of the influential family of the Muhallabids.
Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, al- (632-702). Arab general and the founder of the influential family of the Muhallabids.
Muhallabids
Muhallabids (in Arabic, al-Mahaliba). Kinsmen and clients of Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra. They rose to power in the service of the Umayyads, were crashed in 720, but staged a spectacular come back under the ‘Abbasids and remained politically prominent until the reign of the Caliph al-Ma’mun. They also produced a large number of men of culture, a rebel leader of the Zanj, and the Buyid vizier Abu Muhammad al-Muhallabi.
The Muhallabids were a dynasty of governors in Ifriqiya under the Abbasid Caliphate (771-793)
Although subject to the Abbasids, they enjoyed a great deal of autonomy and were able to maintain Arab rule in the face of revolts by the Berbers. They were unable however to prevent the formation of the kingdoms of the Idrisids in Morocco and the Rustamids in central Algeria.
Ifriqiya experienced a significant economic and cultural upturn under the Muhallabids. Above all, agriculture was reinvigorated by the expansion of irrigation systems. The dynasty was overthrown in 793 by a military rebellion, and in the ensuing anarchy the Aghlabids established themselves as rulers of a separate Emirate (800-909).
Mahaliba, al- see Muhallabids
Muhallabids (in Arabic, al-Mahaliba). Kinsmen and clients of Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra. They rose to power in the service of the Umayyads, were crashed in 720, but staged a spectacular come back under the ‘Abbasids and remained politically prominent until the reign of the Caliph al-Ma’mun. They also produced a large number of men of culture, a rebel leader of the Zanj, and the Buyid vizier Abu Muhammad al-Muhallabi.
The Muhallabids were a dynasty of governors in Ifriqiya under the Abbasid Caliphate (771-793)
Although subject to the Abbasids, they enjoyed a great deal of autonomy and were able to maintain Arab rule in the face of revolts by the Berbers. They were unable however to prevent the formation of the kingdoms of the Idrisids in Morocco and the Rustamids in central Algeria.
Ifriqiya experienced a significant economic and cultural upturn under the Muhallabids. Above all, agriculture was reinvigorated by the expansion of irrigation systems. The dynasty was overthrown in 793 by a military rebellion, and in the ensuing anarchy the Aghlabids established themselves as rulers of a separate Emirate (800-909).
Mahaliba, al- see Muhallabids
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