HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Khwaja Shams al-Din 'Ali (died 1351–52) was the leader of the
Sarbadars The Sarbadars (from fa, سربدار ''sarbadār'', "head on gallows"; also known as Sarbedaran ) were a mixture of religious dervishes and secular rulers that came to rule over part of western Khurasan in the midst of the disintegration of t ...
of
Sabzewar Sabzevar ( fa, سبزوار ), previously known as Beyhagh (also spelled "Beihagh"; fa, بيهق), is a city and capital of Sabzevar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, approximately west of the provincial capital Mashhad, in northeastern ...
from 1348 until his death.


Biography

Shams al-Din 'Ali was a member of the Sabzewar aristocracy and a leader of one of the city guilds. During
Shaikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
Hasan Juri's lifetime, he had been an adviser to him, and was a supporter of Hasan's
dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...
organization. In 1346 he led a group of pro-dervish Sarbadar chiefs in a coup against the leader of the Sarbadars,
Muhammad Aytimur Muhammad Aytimur (died August or September 1346) was the leader of the Sarbadars of Sabzewar from 1343 until his death. Life Aytimur was born into a lowly family, probably one of the Turkish ḡolāms that Masʿūd, the previous Sarbadār leader ...
, who was overthrown and executed on Shams al-din 'Ali's orders. After the elimination of Muhammad Aytimur, Shams al-Din 'Ali decided not to formally take over the Sarbadar government; he no doubt realized that a counter-coup was probable and that he would not have enough support amongst the partisans of
Wajih ad-Din Mas'ud Wajih ad-Din Mas'ud (died 1344) was the leader of the Sarbadars of Sabzewar from 1338-1343 until his death. Under his rule, the Sarbadar state developed its characteristic dual nature as both a secular and radical Shi'i state. Early Reign Mas'ud ...
and the army to maintain his position. Instead he decided to install a compromise candidate,
Kulu Isfandiyar Kulu or KULU may refer to: Places * Kullu, also spelled Kulu, a town in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India * Kulu, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kulu, Nigeria, a village - see List of villages in Ogun State * Kulu, Konya, a town in Kon ...
, as the head of the Sarbadars. Despite Kulu Isfandiyar's military credentials, he proved unsuitable as a ruler and was forcibly removed from power after only a year by supporters of Mas'ud's brother, Shams al-Din ibn Fazl Allah.


Head of State

Shams al-Din 'Ali was able to emerge from Kulu Isfandiyar's downfall mostly unscathed. When Shams al-Din ibn Fazl Allah proved himself incapable of paying the army, Shams al-Din 'Ali saw is chance and forced him to abdicate in around 1348. He then assumed control of the government. One of the first actions of Shams al-Din 'Ali after ascending to the head of the government was to reform the tax administration. In order to avoid his predecessors' failure to pay the military, he increased the revenues of the state and made sure that officials and members of the army were paid in cash. This raised the morale of the military and made it more loyal to him, enabling him to take the offensive against the
Ilkhanid The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...
claimant Togha Temur and his allies. Togha Temur was eventually compelled to forfeit any claims of suzerainty over the Sarbadars. An attempt to seize
Tus Tus or TUS may refer to: * Tus (biology), a protein that binds to terminator sequences * Thales Underwater Systems, an international defence contractor * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language, ISO 639-3 code Education * Technological Univ ...
from the
Jauni Kurban Jauni is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finla ...
, a tribe allied to Togha Temur, was on the other hand unsuccessful. Shams al-Din 'Ali's extreme
Shi'i Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
leanings as an associate of the dervish organization had a large influence of his administration of the Sarbadar state. Corruption by government officials was heavily suppressed, which helped increase the state finances and fund both the army and several public works programs. In addition, however, he also set up a system of watchers in the cities of the Sarbadars to look for moral violations. Prostitution, drugs, and alcohol were banned with strict consequences for those who violated the law. Still, after Shams al-Din 'Ali came to power the official religion of the Sarbadar state remained SunniRoemer, p. 28. Smith Jr. argues that later in his reign, Shams al-Din 'Ali instituted Shi'ism as the state religion; for details see Smith Jr., p. 132 in order to avoid alienating the more moderate Shi'is and Sunnis of the state. Although Shams al-Din 'Ali's reform program resulted in a level of prosperity not formerly known in the Sarbadar state, it also made him many enemies. Moderate Shi'is were alarmed with his radical moral restrictions, and corrupt government officials suffered under his harsh anti-corruption measures. Even some dervishes opposed him; one of them, Dervish Hindu-i Mashhadi, unsuccessfully rebelled in
Damghan Damghan ( fa, دامغان, translit=Dāmghān) is the capital of Damghan County, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 57,331, in 15,849 families. It is situated east of Tehran on the high-road to Mashad, at an elevat ...
. His reign came to a sudden end when a government official,
Haidar Qassāb Haidar Qassāb (died 1356) was the head of the Sarbadars of Sabzewar During 1356. Biography A possible member of the artisan guild, Haidar Qassāb served in the government of Khwaja Shams al-Din 'Ali as a collector of urban craft and trade tax ...
, organized his murder after being punished for allowing a tax account to fall into arrears. He was succeeded by a moderate,
Yahya Karawi Yahya Karawi (died 1355/56) was the leader of the Sarbadars of Sabzewar from around 1353 until his death. Reign Yahya, an aristocrat, came to power after the assassination of Khwaja Shams al-Din 'Ali in around 1351. He had been informed before ...
, in 1351 or 1352.


Footnotes


References

*Roemer, H. R. "The Jalayirids, Muzaffarids and Sarbadars." ''The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods.'' Edited by Peter Jackson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. *Smith, Jr., John Masson. ''The History of the Sarbadar Dynasty 1336-1381 A.D. and Its Sources''. The Hague: Mouton, 1970. {{s-end Sarbadars