Turco-Persian

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The Turco-Persians were a heterogeneous confederation of certain Turkic, Iranic and Mongol peoples that eventually conquered much of Central Asia, Southwest Asia and South Asia during the 15th to 17th centuries. The most notable member of this society was the Turco-Mongol conquerer Timur, who established the Turco-Persian Timurid dynasty. The Turco-Persian leader Babur, who was descended from Timur (Tamerlane) on his father's side, and from Chagatai Khan, second son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother's side, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in India.^[1]

The Turco-Persian society was a dual society, ruled by two separate ethnic classes. The Turco-Mongols were the warrior caste of the society, called "ahl al-sayf" ("men of the sword") in Arabic. They claimed descent from the Mongol warriors, although they spoke either Turkic languages or Persian rather than Mongolian tongues. They lived their lives largely on horseback as fierce conquerors. The other part of the ruling class, the "men of the pen" (Arabic: "ahl al-elm" - "men of wisdom"), was of Persian origin. They were called Tajiks by the Turco-Mongols and filled the ranks of important officers, chancellors (called wazirs in Persian), merchants, artists, poets, scientists, and scholars.

Most of the ruling kings were of mixed heritage, including Persian and Turkic, like the Timurid kings Shah Rukh and Ulugh Beg. This symbiosis of Turk and Tājik gave birth to one of the most powerful cultures in Islamic history that for many centuries ruled Central Asia, Iran, and India.