THE SACRED WRITINGS OF THE MUGHAL PRINCESSES
QURAN WRITTEN BY ZINAT UN NISA DAUGHTER AURANGZEB ALAMGEER
Various legacies of the spiritual oriented ladies
Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgeer had ten children, of which five were boys and five were girls. . Some of them more talented than others. The daughters were real talented in many ways. Obsessed with knowledge, they had tremendous resources spent in acquiring books and building up libraries. Poets and scholars most of them. Fostering and encouraging talent in other persons. They were well versed in study of the Quran, could recite same elegantly and even write same. We hear of many Qurans written by Mughal Princesses.
One such Princess was Zinat un Nisa. She was born on 5th October, 1643 at Aurangabad. She died in the year 1700 AD. In her life she never got married and spent her time in spiritual pursuits. She built a reasonable mosque in Delhi (like the Jamia Masjid), which has survived the times and is known as Zinat ul Masjid. A Quran came up in a collection and is attributed to her in a later writing. No one can be sure of same but for the present it is taken as the Quran of Zinat un Nisa.
Zinat un nisa died in 1700 AD (1122 AH) and was buried in the enclosure of her mosque and the grave existed for a long time. During the mutiny it was destroyed and leveled to the ground. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan has given the inscription on the grave in his book on Delhi, namely Asrar ul Sanadeed. That is on record. Carr Stephens has translated it in his book on Delhi:
“For a friend in my grave, God’s forgiveness is alone sufficient;
The canopy of my grave, is the shadow of the cloud of God’s mercy,
In the hope of a righteous end. Fathmah Zinat ul Nisa Begam,
daughter of Badshah Mohiuddin Muhammed Alamgeer Ghazi.
May God illuminate his works: 1122 Hijri.”
This was the spirit of those grand ladies. Hindu writers have poured dirt on these Princesses with concocted stories of their own which border on utter shamelessness. Hate blinds people. The character of all these ladies is brought to question with stories of murders of their secret lovers. How much malice is in the heart of people to throw mud at figures who cannot defend themselves at all? The Law of Retribution catches up with all of us, particularly those who cast aspersions on other people, without evidence of any kind. This becomes all the more bizarre when history records Zinat un nisa saving of some influential Hindu families, including the Maharratta Shambaji’s widow and son Yesubai. Both mother and son were in her personal care and safety. Strange! What cheap minds can think of degrading pious women. That is why the curse of Allah is upon writers like Magan Lal.