Throw some light on Mughals’ relations with the Ottoman empire.
The main objective of Mughals’ relations with the Ottoman empire was to maintain a free movement for pilgrims and merchants in the territories under control of the Ottoman empire. This was true especially for the Hijaz i.e., that area of Ottoman Arabia where Mecca and Madina, important pilgrim centres were located. Mughal emperors generally combined commerce and religion. They used to export valuable things to Aden and Mokha, both the ports of Red Sea. They even used to distribute the income from the sale of these goods in charity and keepers of shrines. But when Aurangzeb came to know about the misappropriation of funds sent to Arabia, he stressed on their distribution in India because he believed that, “it was as much a house of God as Mecca.”
