The Mughals, the Sufi Shaikhs and the Formation of the Akbari ...

174 MUZAFFAR ALAM
seventeenth century, which lack of space has prevented me from
doing here. That consideration would also require a further, careful
investigation of the role played by members of the Chishti order
in the seventeenth century, including the key personage of ‘Abd al-
Rahman Chishti (mentioned only in passing in this essay). It is only
by examining the full range of materials produced both by different
orders about themselves, and about each other, while keeping the
political compulsions that shaped the choices of the Mughal emperors
and their elites, that we may grasp the intricacies and complexities of
this field. This essay has thus been a modest first step in the direction
of a far larger enterprise.
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