AKBAR, JALAL UD-DIN MUHAMMAD (1542-1605), third in the line of Mughal emperors of India, was born on 23 November 1542 at Amarkot, in Sindh, while his father, Humayun, was escaping to Persia after he had been ousted by Sher Khan Sur. Akbar was crowned king at Kalanaur, in the Punjab, on 14 February 1556. At that time, the only territory he claimed was a small part of the Punjab, Delhi and Agra having been taken by Hemu. He was then fourteen years old, but he proved himself a great general and conqueror. Upon his death in 1605, he left to his son and successor, Jahangir, a stable kingdom comprising the whole of Upper India, Kabul, Kashmir, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa and a great part of the Deccan.
AKBAR KHAN MUHAMMAD (d. 1848), son of Dost Muhammad Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan. He was a Hery young man of great dash and daring. Like his father, he was keen to regain the Afghan possessions in India Multan, Kashmir, Attock and Peshawar. In 1837, Dost Muhammad Khan declared a holy war against the Sikhs and attacked the fortress of Jamrud at the entrance to the Khaibar Pass. An attack led by Akbar Khan was repulsed, though the valiant Sikh general, Hari Singh Nalva, was killed in the action.
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ABUL FAZL (1551-1602), principal secretary-cum-minister to Akbar, the Mughal emperor. He was an accomplished man of learning and was the author of two celebrated works, A`ini Akbari and Akbar-nama, the former being a description of Akbar`s administrative system and the latter a chronicle of the events of his reign. Like his father, Shaikh Mubarak, and brother, Faizi, Abul Fazl had Sufi leanings, and all three of them were a major influence in moulding the religious policy of the emperor. Born at Akbarabad on 14 January 1551, Abul Fazl took up service at the royal court in 1574, and through his uncommon wisdom and learning soon rose to become Akbar`s most trusted adviser.
