Saifuddin Hamza Shah ( fa, سیف الدین حمزه شاه, bn, সাইফুদ্দীন হামজ়া শাহ) was the fourth

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

of the first

Ilyas dynasty The Ilyas Shahi dynasty ( bn, ইলিয়াস শাহী খান্দান, fa, الیاس شاهی خاندان) was the first independent dynasty to set the foundations of the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal. Hailin ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

reigning from 1410 to 1412.

Early life and background

Hamza was born in the 14th-century into a ruling class

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

family known as the

Ilyas Shahi dynasty The Ilyas Shahi dynasty ( bn, ইলিয়াস শাহী খান্দান, fa, الیاس شاهی خاندان) was the first independent dynasty to set the foundations of the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal. Hailin ...

, in the

Bengal Sultanate The Sultanate of Bengal ( Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the dominan ...

. His father, Sultan

Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah Ghiyasuddin A'zam Shah ( bn, গিয়াসউদ্দীন আজম শাহ, fa, ) was the third Sultan of Bengal and the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. He was one of the most prominent medieval Bengali sultans. He established diplomatic relatio ...

, was the grandson of

Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah Haji Ilyas, better known as Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah ( bn, শামসুদ্দীন ইলিয়াস শাহ, fa, ), was the founder of the Sultanate of Bengal and its inaugural Ilyas Shahi dynasty which ruled the region for 150 year ...

– the founder of the ruling dynasty as well as the nation. Hailing from what is now eastern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, Hamza's family was of

Sistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan (N ...

i ancestral origin.

Reign

The reasoning behind the death of Hamza's father, Sultan

, is contested between a natural death or an assassination plotted by

Raja Ganesha Raja Ganesha ( bn, রাজা গণেশ) was a Hindu Brahmin zamindar ruler of Bengal, who took advantage of the weakness of the first Ilyas Shahi dynasty and seized power in Bengal. Contemporary historians of the medieval period considere ...

, the Hindu

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

of Bhaturia who gained prominence in the Sultanate court. Following the death, Hamza assumed the throne with the grand title of "''Sultan-us-Salatin''", meaning ''Sultan of Sultans'', in 1420 CE with the support of the court nobles. He began minting coins in his name from cities such as

Satgaon Saptagram (Bengali: সপ্তগ্রাম; colloquially called ''Satgaon'') was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in t ...

, Muazzamabad and Firuzabad. Hamza also maintained a good relationship with the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...

of Ming China, and had an heir named Muhammad bin Hamzah.

Death

Hamza's reign was interrupted by a nationwide civil war instigated by Raja Ganesha. According to the Egyptian scholars

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī or ''Ibn Ḥajar'' ( ar, ابن حجر العسقلاني, full name: ''Shihābud-Dīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Nūrud-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī al-Kināni'') (18 February 1372 – 2 Febru ...

and

Al-Sakhawi Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sakhāwī ( ar, شمس الدين محمد بن عبدالرحمن السخاوي, 1428/831 AH – 1497/902 AH) was a reputable Shafi‘i Muslim hadith scholar and historian who was born in Cai ...

who were alive at the time of receiving the news, Sultan Hamza Shah was murdered by his slave Mamluk Shihab in 1412. The 20th-century Indian historian R. C. Majumdar however, believes that Shihab was Hamza's son and did not kill Hamza but rather succeeded him after his assassination.

References

1412 deaths Sunni Muslims 15th-century Indian Muslims 14th-century births 15th-century Indian monarchs Ilyas Shahi dynasty {{SAsia-hist-stub

Early life and background

Reign

Death

See also

References