Editing Ranjit Singh (section)

===Religious policies===
[[File:Benares- The Golden Temple, India, ca. 1915 (IMP-CSCNWW33-OS14-66).jpg|thumb|In 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh donated 1 tonne of gold for plating the [[Kashi Vishwanath Temple]]'s dome.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217371 |title=The Sacred City of the Hindus: An Account of Benares in Ancient and Modern Times |author=Matthew Atmore Sherring |publisher=Trübner & co. |year=1868 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217371/page/n93 51] |author-link=Matthew Atmore Sherring }}</ref><ref name="Madhuri_2007">{{cite book |author=Madhuri Desai |title=Resurrecting Banaras: Urban Space, Architecture and Religious Boundaries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdD3MYnYey8C&pg=PA30 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-549-52839-5 }}</ref>]]

As consistent with many Punjabis of that time, Ranjit Singh was a secular king<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ranjit Singh: A Secular Sikh Sovereign|last=Duggal|first=K.S.|date=1993|publisher=Abhinav Pubns|isbn=8170172446}}</ref> and followed the Sikh path.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The evolution of the Sikh community: five essays|last=McLeod|first=W. H.|date=1976|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=0-19-826529-8|location=Oxford|oclc=2140005}}</ref> His policies were based on respect for all communities, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim.<ref name= Singh2011 /> A devoted Sikh, Ranjit Singh restored and built historic Sikh [[Gurdwara]]s – most famously, the [[Harmandir Sahib]], and used to celebrate his victories by offering thanks at the Harmandir. He also joined the Hindus in their temples out of respect for their sentiments.<ref name= Singh2011 /> The veneration of cows was promoted and cow slaughter was punishable by death under his rule.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030308/windows/above.htm|title=The Tribune – Windows – This Above All|website=www.tribuneindia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Polk|first=William Roe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozFDDwAAQBAJ&dq=sikh+empire+anti+islamic&pg=PA263|title=Crusade and Jihad: The Thousand-year War Between the Muslim World and the Global North|date= 2018 |publisher=Yale University Press|pages=263|isbn=978-0300222906 |author-link=William R. Polk}}</ref> He ordered his soldiers to neither loot nor molest civilians.<ref>{{cite book|author=Khushwant Singh|title=Ranjit Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D068dKeyGW4C  |year=2008|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-306543-2 |pages= 25–26 }}</ref>

He built several gurdwaras, Hindu temples and even mosques, and one in particular was Mai Moran Masjid, built at the behest of his beloved Muslim wife, [[Moran Sarkar]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Hari Ram Gupta |title=History of the Sikhs |publisher=Munshirm Manoharlal Pub Pvt Ltd |date=2001 |isbn=8121505402}}</ref> The Sikhs led by Singh never razed places of worship to the ground belonging to the enemy.<ref>{{cite book |author=K.S. Duggal |title=Ranjit Singh: A Secular Sikh Sovereign |publisher=Abhinav Publications |date=1989 |isbn=81-7017-244-6}}</ref> However, he did convert Muslim mosques into other uses. For example, Ranjit Singh's army desecrated Lahore's [[Badshahi Mosque]] and converted it into an ammunition store,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AxnjJp_kpFkC&pg=PA23|title=City of Sin and Splendour: Writings on Lahore|first=Bapsi|last=Sidhwa|year=2005|publisher=Penguin Books |access-date=7 January 2017|isbn=978-0143031666 |quote=In Lahore, just as he had grasped its historic citadel and put it to his own hardy use or desecrated the Badshahi Mosque and converted it into a functional ammuniation store...}}</ref> and horse stables.<ref name=amin95>{{cite book|last1=Amin|first1=Mohamed |last2= Willetts|first2= Duncan|last3= Farrow|first3= Brendan|title=Lahore|date=1988|publisher=Ferozsons|isbn=978-9690006943|page=95}}</ref> Lahore's [[Moti Masjid (Lahore Fort)|Moti Masjid]] (Pearl Mosque) was converted into "Moti Mandir" (Pearl Temple) by the Sikh army,<ref name=amin95/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Latif|first1=Syad Muhammad|title=Lahore: Its History, Architectural Remains and Antiquities|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107067|year=1892|publisher=Printed at the New Imperial Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107067/page/n175 125]}}</ref> and [[Sunehri Masjid, Lahore|Sonehri Mosque]] was converted into a Sikh [[Gurdwara]], but upon the request of Sufi Fakir (Satar Shah Bukhari), Ranjit Singh restored the latter to a mosque.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Latif|first1=Syad Muhammad|title=Lahore: Its History, Architectural Remains and Antiquities|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107067|year=1892|publisher=Printed at the New Imperial Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107067/page/n343 221]–223, 339}}</ref> Lahore's [[Mosque of Mariyam Zamani Begum|Begum Shahi Mosque]] was also used as a gunpowder factory, earning it the [[nickname]] ''Barudkhana Wali Masjid'', or "Gunpowder Mosque."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Maryam Zamani Mosque|journal=Journal of Central Asia|year=1996|volume=19|publisher=Centre for the Study of the Civilizations of Central Asia, Quaid-i-Azam University|page=97}}</ref>

Singh's sovereignty was accepted by Afghan and Punjabi Muslims, who fought under his banner against the Afghan forces of Nadir Shah and later Azim Khan. His court was ecumenical in composition: his prime minister, [[Dhian Singh]], was a Hindu ([[Dogras|Dogra]]); his foreign minister, [[Fakir Azizuddin]], was a Muslim; and his finance minister, Dina Nath, was also a Hindu ([[Brahmin]]). Artillery commanders such as Mian Ghausa were also Muslims. There were no forced conversions in his time. His wives Bibi Mohran, [[Gulbahar Begum|Gilbahar Begum]] retained their faith and so did his Hindu wives. He also employed and surrounded himself with astrologers and soothsayers in his court.<ref>{{cite book|last=Singh|first=Khushwant|title=A History of the Sikhs: 1469–1838|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MD9uAAAAMAAJ|access-date=1 April 2011|edition=2nd|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-567308-1|page=295}}</ref>

Ranjit Singh had also abolished the [[gurmata]] and provided significant patronage to the [[Udasi]] and [[Nirmala (sect)|Nirmala]] sect, leading to their prominence and control of Sikh religious affairs.{{refn|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mandair |first=Arvind |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftdcvmviy_8C&pg=PR35 |title=Teachings of the Sikh Gurus: Selections from the Sikh Scriptures |date= 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1136451089 |pages=xxxv (35)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Mann|first=Gurinder Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTCFDfh7Qv4C&pg=PA150|title=Studying the Sikhs: Issues for North America|date= 1993 |publisher=State University of New York Press|page=150|isbn=978-0791414255 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Die |first=Marguerite |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxZqGT-IrJ4C&pg=PA348 |title=Religion and Public Life in Canada: Historical and Comparative Perspectives |date= 2001 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0802082459 |page=348}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mandair |first=Arvind-Pal S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dzeCy_zL0Q8C&pg=PA264 |title=Religion and the Specter of the West: Sikhism, India, Postcoloniality, and the Politics of Translation |date= 2009 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51980-9 |page=264 |language=en |quote=As Khalsa Sikhs became more settled and as Ranjit Singh's rule became more autocratic, the Gurumata was effectively abolished, thereby ensuring that the doctrine of the Guru Panth would lose its efficacy. At the same time, however, Ranjit Singh continued to patronize Udasi and Nirmala ashrams. The single most important result of this was the more pronounced diffusion of Vedic and Puranic concepts into the existing Sikh interpretive frameworks}}</ref>}}
[[File:Painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the Darbar Dahib, by August Schoefft, ca.1840's–1855 after a sketch made by Schoefft in Amritsar in 1841 (pre-varnish removal).jpg|center|thumb|800x800px|{{center|Maharaja Ranjit Singh listening to [[Guru Granth Sahib]] being recited near the [[Akal Takht]] and [[Golden Temple, Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India]].}}]]