Abu l Fadl Allami

Abu-l-Fadl’s father, Sheikh Mubarak Nagori ( 1505 - 1593 ), was a prominent figure in the Sufi brotherhood of Chishtiya and a well-known scholar who was persecuted by the heirs of Sher Shah and took refuge at Akbar's court. Abul al-Fadl, along with his father, participated in religious disputes held by the padishah and contributed significantly to the proclamation of a policy of tolerance . Following his older brother, he devoted himself to poetry and philology, was introduced to the court in 1574 primarily as a scientist and poet, and soon he headed the court office. Akbar highly appreciated Abul al-Fadl, entrusting him with diplomatic missions, and then such responsible government posts as the head of the financial department and the first adviser to the ruler. During the wars in Deccan, Abu l Fazl commanded the Mughal forces.

Using the huge amount of archival documents at his disposal, Abul al-Fadl was able to realize the grandiose plan - “Akbar-nama”, a biography of the monarch with a detailed description of his deeds and possessions. The unfinished poem with the same name was left by Feyzi, and Abul al-Fadl partially used the work of his older brother; The Babur Nama , the autobiography of the founder of the Mughal empire, Babur, also served as a direct model for him.

In Mughal society, promotion to higher positions was associated with valor shown on the battlefield (and the Mughal empire waged almost constant wars for its expansion). Abul al-Fadl strove to become a more significant figure than the court writer and interlocutor of Akbar. According to Akbar-nama, he repeatedly requested military service. In 1581, Abul al-Fadlu was tasked with gathering the opinions of army officers about the proposed campaign in Kabulistan; in 1585 he was elevated to the rank of a thousand zat; in 1586 he spoke convincingly at a military council; in 1589 he was overseeing cooks during a trip to Kashmir; in 1592 he was elevated to the rank of two thousand, and in 1598 Akbar granted him a fighting elephant, when Abul al-Fadl, headed by three thousand soldiers, was sent to Murad to inform him to return to Agra. However, shortly after the arrival of Abul al-Fadl, Murad died, and he had to lead the army. At this post, he proved himself so brilliantly that in the future he was entrusted with command of several military operations in which he gained victories. The second man in the state, the eldest son of Akbar Selim looked with suspicion on his successes, especially since Abul al-Fadl, in all the feuds between Akbar and his son, took the side of the first. Abul al-Fadl considered Selim licentious and unreliable, and the Crown Prince began to seriously fear that Akbar’s closest adviser, who had significantly strengthened his position thanks to military victories, could affect the succession to the throne.

Abul al-Fadl died on August 12, 1602, in an ambush organized by the Rajput rajah Bir Singh Bundel on the orders of Prince Selim, the future padishah Jahangir , to whom the head of the murdered was sent. However, the son of Abul al-Fadl was appointed subadar of Bihar during the reign of Jahangir.

Abu l Fadl (Abu l Fazl) is one of the characters in the novel “An Angel Standing in the Sun” by Denis Gerber ^[1] .

• Abu l Fazl Allami. Akbar-name. T. I — IV, Samara, 2003-2009.

• Abu 'l-Faḍl (Faẓl) ʿAllāmī / Hasan, Nurul // Encyclopaedia of Islam .2 ed . - Leiden: EJ Brill , 1960-2005. (paid)
• B. Gascoigne. Great Mughals. Moscow, 2003, pp. 127-135.

•   Media files related to Akbar-name in Wikimedia Commons
• Abu l Fazl and Akbar-name . Book and era