Shaikh Gadai Kamboh - Mughal Historians's Criticism of Shaikh Gadai

Mughal Historians's Criticism of Shaikh Gadai

Mughal historians of Akbar's reign who compiled their works after the fall of Bairam Khan are very critical of Shaikh Gadai and accuse him of arrogance, high-handedness and favoritism in the distribution of land grants and stipends among the Shaikhs, Sayyids, Scholars and other deserving persons. So much so, even Akbar complained in his firman to Bairam Khan issued at the time of latter's dismissal that one of his misdeeds was the elevation of Shaikh Gadai to the "Sadarat" in preference to the Sayyids and other Ulemas. However, it was soon later found that these complaints and grievances were concocted by Chugtai Turk nobles to provide young Akbar with a pretext to remove Bairam Khan, a Turkoman, from the power. According to Shaikh Rizk Allah Mushtakt who is the earliest source on this issue, Shaikh Gadai had played a very important role at the beginning of Akbar's reign and Bairam Khan did not transact any political and financial business without consulting him. The dominant orthodox Chugtai Turk nobles who wanted to get rid of Bairam Khan because of his being an Iranized Turk as well as for his Shiite beliefs, always tried to poison Akbar's ears against him. They also got annoyed with Shaikh Gadai Kamboh his right hand man when he refused to toe their line to join hands with them against Bairam Khan and betray him, in spite of the fact that the Shaikh himself was an orthodox Sunni. It is wrongly stated by some writers that Shaikh Gadai Kamboh was Shia Muslim. "While it appears that Bairam Khan held Shiite beliefs.....Shaikh Gadai was undoubtedly a Sunni and not a Shiite". Badāʼūnī, himself a Sunni, simply reflects extreme Sunni opinions when he makes Shaikh Gadai the special target of his personal attacks. Badāʾūnī plaintively writes: "The honor (Sadr-i-Sadur) thus conferred gave the Shaikh the precedence over the magnates or grandees (akabir) of Hindustan and Khorasan".