Who inspired Abu'l Fazl when he placed the Mughal Kingship as the highest station receiving light emanating from God (farr-i izadi)?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Shihabuddin Suhrawardi
In placing Mughal kingship as the highest station receiving light emanating from God (farr-i izadi), Abu’l Fazl was inspired by the famous Iranian sufi Shihabuddin Suhrawardi, who first developed this idea.
Note: This question is taken from the chapter ‘Kings and Chronicles’ which was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT and has been deleted from subsequent editions of NCERT, including the NCERT book (2026-27).
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “5.1 A divine light … Court chroniclers drew upon many sources to show that the power of the Mughal kings came directly from God. One of the legends they narrated was that of the Mongol queen Alanqua, who was impregnated by a ray of sunshine while resting in her tent. The offspring she bore carried this Divine Light and passed it on from generation to generation. Abu’l Fazl placed Mughal kingship as the highest station in the hierarchy of objects receiving light emanating from God (farr-i izadi ). Here he was inspired by a famous Iranian sufi, Shihabuddin Suhrawardi (d. 1191) who first developed this idea. According to this idea, there was a hierarchy in which the Divine Light was transmitted to the king who then became the source of spiritual guidance for his subjects.…” |