Note 2 — Chapter III · Agra.

Abú-l Fazl (called Allami) was a son of Shaikh Mubarak, son of Shaikh Khizr, who came from Sind. Mubarak was one of the most learned men of his day, and inclined to be a free-thinker. Abú-l Fazl, his second son, was born on January 14th, 1551. He was a devoted student, and his range of reading was very extensive. His elder brother, Faizi, had been invited to the court of Akbar in the twelfth year of that sovereign’s reign, and by his means Abú-l Fazl was introduced in 1568, when in his seventeenth year. His abilities were immediately recognised, and every year he grew in favour and power. He was made Prime Minister and Mansabdar of four thousand, discharging his duties with distinguished abilities and success. Both brothers inherited the liberal opinions of their father, and carried them to greater extremes. Hence orthodox Muslims reviled them as apostates and free-thinkers. In them Akbar found congenial minds, with feelings and opinions similar to but more decided than his own. The murder of Abú-l Fazl on August 12th, 1602, is noted further on. He was the author of the “Akbar-namah” (2 vols.), a history of his master’s reign down to 1602, and of the “A’ín-i-Akbari.”