Which of the following steps taken by Emperor Aurangzeb is best categorized as a secular administrative reform or legal contribution, rather than a purely religious or orthodox decree? |ForumIAS

[A] The banning of the singing of classical music at the imperial court and the dismissal of royal musicians.

[B] The abolition of the Jharokha Darshan (public balcony appearance) tradition started by Akbar.

[C] The compilation of the Fatawa-i-Alamgiri (a compendium of Islamic laws) in Persian.

[D] The decision to remove the inscription of the Kalima (Islamic creed) from Mughal coins.

Answer: D

Notes:

Explanation:

(a) and (b) are both orthodox religious decrees aimed at purging court practices of what was deemed ‘un-Islamic’.
(c) The Fatawa-i-Alamgiri is a major legal and religious contribution, but its intent was to make the state administration follow a fixed corpus of Sunni Hanafi law, thus reinforcing orthodoxy, not secularism.
(d) Correct. Aurangzeb ordered the removal of the Kalima from coins to prevent the inscription of the holy text from being defiled by non-believers, such as when coins passed through the hands of Hindus or were lost/buried in the ground. This was a pragmatic administrative/security decision taken for a religious reason, but distinct from the direct imposition of religious law on the populace.