Under the new rule of Jahangir in India, a Mughal ruler, the Sikhs began to feel oppressed. The new rule targeted the Sikhs and their leader at the time, Guru Arjan Dev Jee. This oppression was felt again with the ninth Sikh leader, Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. The Sikhs between the mid-1500s and mid-1600s lost their leaders to an offensive by Mughal rule. The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib and Guru Arjan Dev Sahib ultimately laid the foundation for future Sikhs to feel the need to be ready for conflict and willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Guru Arjan Dev Sahib was the first martyr of the Sikh faith. This execution took place in 1606. The reasons why Guru Arjan Dev Ji was executed were the charges against him by the Mughal government. They claimed that Guru Arjan Dev Ji was “a Hindu named Arjan, in the garb of holiness and sanctity, so much so that he had captured many of the simple-hearted Hindus and even the ignorant and foolish followers of Islam, by his ways and his ways, and had played the drum of his holiness aloud.” (Diary of Emperor Jahangir). Jahangir was ignorant enough to say that the leader of the Sikhs was a Hindu. He made false allegations against Guru Arjan Dev Sahib which ultimately led to the Guru's martyrdom. The reason why this Guru was considered a martyr was because Jahangir was attempting to force Guru Arjan Dev Ji to convert to Islam, as stated again in his diary, "Many times it occurred to me to put an end to this vain affair or bring it into the assembly of the people of Islam." This shows how Jahangir was only interested in bringing him to Islam because we would have executed him if he did not want to convert. Guru Arjan Dev Jee's execution lasted 5 days. Every day it became worse and worse. The last day before complete death is considered the worst day by Sikhs. The Guru was forced to sit on a hot iron plate in front of many people and had hot sand poured all over his body allegedly without uttering a word. The days of torture were desperate and painful. The Sikhs “dived into grief and sorrow over the death of Guru Arjan, who was not only the leader of the Sikh religion, who held a position. 'equivalent to that of Pope among Christians', to use the words of the Rev. Fr. Fernao Guerreiro, but he was also a saint and a scholar who had given the world first-rate writing." (Dr. Ganda Singh, The Martyrdom of Guru Arjan). After this horrible event, the Sikhs had to become strong and be independent from the Mughal rule, always ready to defend themselves and others oppressed by the Mughals. There was an exceptional amount of peace for the next seventy years after the death of Guru Arjan Dev Jee. Then, in November 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur, in Delhi, learned that Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor of the time, was persecuting Hindus and forcing them to convert to Islam. Although Sikhs and Hindus had different beliefs, they always respected each other. Learning from Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib took a stand against Aurangzeb and said that it is absolutely unacceptable to force anyone to convert to another belief system. Aurangzeb said that to stop the conversion of Hindus, an important leader had to die. Guru Tegh Bahadur decided to go to Aurangzeb and surrender for the sake of the Hindus. He brought with him three other Sikhs, Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Sati Daas and Bhai Dayala Jee. Not everyone would return. When he reached the place where Aurangzeb was staying, Guru Tegh Bahadur Jee himself was told to convert to Islam. He absolutely refused..