Din-i Ilahi

Dīn-i Ilāhī (Persian: دین الهی, lit. 'Divine Religion'), contemporarily called Tawḥīd-i-Ilāhī (توحید الهی, lit. 'Oneness of the Divine'), was a short-lived syncretic theology that was propounded by emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire in 1582. According to Indian professor Iqtidar Alam Khan of Aligarh Muslim University, it was based on the concept of what was known to be "Yasa-e-Changezi" among the Timurids, with the goal of considering all sects and religions as one. Its core elements were drawn from combining aspects of Islam and other Abrahamic religions with those of several Dharmic religions and Zoroastrianism.

The religion manifested Akbar's worldview and policy, and received state backing until the end of his reign. However, many Muslim scholars of the period declared it to be blasphemy and decried Akbar as an apostate, with only a handful of upper-class Mughal subjects adopting the new religion. Following Akbar's death, Dīn-i Ilāhī was made defunct by Jahangir, who moved away from many of his father's policies in regard to religion and completely abolished by Akbar's great-grandson Aurangzeb who reimposed Islamic law, thereby continuing the Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent. Ultimately, the religion is not thought to have gained more than its 19 identified followers, and it lasted just over 20 years before Islam was returned to official status in the region.