Ismail of Ghazni

Ismail
Emir of Ghazna
Reign 5 August 997—998
Predecessor Sabuktigin
Successor Mahmud
Died Guzgan[1]
House House of Sabuktigin
Father Sabuktigin
Mother Daughter of Alptigin[2]
Religion Islam

Ismail of Ghazni (Persian: اسماعیل غزنوی) was the emir of Ghazna, reigning for 7 months, from 5 August 997 until 998.[3] He succeeded his father emir Sabuktigin, who died of an illness acquired in Balkh during a campaign in the Samanid civil war. Ismail was designated his successor by Sabuktigin on his death-bed, while Mahmud, the older brother who was involved in the Samanid civil war, was stationed in Nishapur.

Upon receiving these news Mahmud of Ghazni contested Ismail's right to the throne and divested his charge of Nishapur to his uncle Borghuz and younger brother Nur-ud-Din Yusuf and marched upon Ghazna in what is now Afghanistan.

Mahmud won the Battle of Ghazni and took the crown from Ismail. Ismail spent the rest of his life confined to a fort in Guzgan. Historians have extrapolated that Sabuktigin chose Ismail because his other two sons both had a slave as mother, from Ferdowsi's later satirization of Mahmud for being descended from slaves on both maternal and paternal side.

Footnotes

  1. "ESMĀʿĪL, b. Seboktegīn" Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 18 August 2014
  2. "ESMĀʿĪL, b. Seboktegīn" Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 18 August 2014
  3. Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. p. 63. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.

References

Ferishta, History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power in India, Volume 1: Section 15

Preceded by:
Sabuktigin
Emir of Ghazna
997998
Followed by:
Mahmud
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