Qutb Shah
| Qutb Shah | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| Reign | 961–963 AD |
| Titles | Shahanshah-e-Khorasan |
| Birthplace | Herat, Afghanistan |
| Died | 1011 |
| Place of death | Herat, Afghanistan |
| Buried | Herat, Afghanistan |
| Royal House | Hashemite |
| Religious beliefs | Islam |
Qutb Shah (Persian: قطب شاه) was the ruler of Herat and a general in the army of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi. Qutub Shah was a Hashemite descendant of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, son of Hazart Ali,[1] who in turn was the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad.[2]
Historical sources attest that the Khorasan and Herat were under the rule of King Nuh III of Samanids,[3] the seventh of the Samanid line—at the time of Sebük Tigin and his older son, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi.
The governor of Herāt was a noble by the name of Faik,[2] who governed on behalf of King Nuh III.[citation needed] Faik was a powerful, but insubordinate governor of Nuh III;[citation needed] and had been punished by Nuh III. Faik made overtures to Bogra Khan and Ughar Khan of Khorasan.[citation needed] Bogra Khan answered Faik's call, came to Herāt and became its master.[3]
In 994, Nuh III invited Alp Tigin to come to his aid. Alp Tigin, along with Mahmud of Ghazni, defeated Faik and annexed Herāt, Nishapur and Tous.[3]
Biography
Qutb Shah and nine of his sons accompanied and assisted Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi[citation needed] in his early eleventh-century conquests of what today forms parts of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Northern India,[citation needed] who, according to tribal traditions, settled primarily in the Salt Range.[citation needed]
Legacy
Tribal history holds that Qutb Shah and his sons married local women who converted to Islam from Zoroastrianism. Qutb Shah's sons are said to have settled in different regions of the Punjab and to a lesser extent, what now constitutes parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Gauhar Shah or Gorrara, settled near Sakesar, Kalan Shah or Kalgan, settled in Kalabagh, Chauhan colonized the hills close to the Jehlum, Mohammad Shah or Khokhar, settled by the Chenab/Kahar, and Tori and Jhajh settled in Padhrar. All these regions collectively less Kalabagh and Sakesar are referred to as "Wanhar" today. Their descendants not only came to heavily populate these regions.
The descendants of Qutb Shah are the Qutb Shahi Awans. A branch of Khokhars also claim their lineage from him . Areas belonging to these tribe are referred to as the martial areas of present day Pakistan i.e. Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Montgomery, Derah Ismail Khan, Derah Ghazi Khan, Jhang, Shahpur, Sialkot, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Jehlum, Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Talagang and Muzaffargarh. History bears testimony to the fact that these tribes have proved to be the most reliable and potent force as warriors in sub continent.
However, most of these claims can be traced to the works of H. A. Rose in the book Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province and confirms his findings to H M Eliot and Dowson's book The History of India, as told by its own Historians.
H. A. Rose then, in the same book, goes on to accept the Awan and Alvi to be of Arab origin. But in the best available account of the tribes, the families are said to be of Arabian origin and descendants of Qutb Shah, but he is said to have ruled Herat and to have joined Mahmud of Ghazni when he invaded India.
See also
References
- ↑ Expectation of the millennium: Shiʻism in history By Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi, Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr , Published by Stae University of New York Press , Page 12
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 IBBETSON; Maclagan (1 December 1996). Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province. Asian Educational Services. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-81-206-0505-3.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Francis Henry Bennett Skrine; Sir Edward Denison Ross (1899). The Heart of Asia: A History of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the Earliest Times. Methuen & Company. p. 117.