Ala al-Din Ali ibn Shuja al-Din Mohammad ( fa, علاء الدین دراست), also known as Zia' al-Din Ali (ضیاء الدین), was the last

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 c ...

of the

Ghurid dynasty The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from th ...

from 1214 to 1215. He was the cousin and successor of

Ala al-Din Atsiz Ala al-Din Atsiz ( fa, علاء الدین اتسز), was Sultan of the Ghurid dynasty from 1213 to 1214. He was the relative and successor of Baha al-Din Sam III. Biography Ala al-Din Atsiz was the son Ala al-Din Husayn, who died in 1161. At t ...

Biography

Zia al-Din Ali was the son

Shuja al-Din Muhammad Shuja ( ar, شجاع‎, ur, شجاع‎, bn, সুজা) is a surname and male given name. Notable people with this name include: * Shuja al-Khwarazmi, was the mother of Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥamma ...

and a princess known as Malek-ye Hajji. During his early years, Zia al-Din Ali was appointed as governor of

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

in ca. 1199/1200 by his cousin Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad. Ghiyath later died in 1202, and was succeeded by his brother Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad, who shortly appointed Ala al-Din Ali as the governor of

Ghur Ghōr (Dari: ), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds ...

Gharchistan Gharchistan or Gharjistan also known as Gharj Al-Shar was a medieval region on the north bank of the Murghab River, lying to the east of Herat and north of Hari River. It corresponds roughly to the modern Badghis Province of Afghanistan ...

and Zamindawar. Ala al-Din Ali later lead a campaign against the

Ismailis Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al ...

Quhistan Quhistan ( fa, قهستان) or Kohistan (, "mountainous land") was a region of medieval Persia, essentially the southern part of Khurasan. Its boundaries appear to have been south of Khorasan to north, Yazd to West, Sistan to South, Afghanistan to ...

. After the death of Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad in 1206, Ala al-Din Ali was dismissed by the new Sultan

Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud ( fa, غیاث الدین محمود), was Sultan of the Ghurid Empire from 1206 to 1212. He was the nephew and successor of Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad. Rise to power Ghiyath was the son of Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, who was t ...

, who had him imprisoned in a fortress in Gharchistan. Ala al-Din Ali, however, was later freed by the

ghulam Ghulam ( ar, غلام, ) is an Arabic word meaning ''servant'', ''assistant'', ''boy'', or ''youth''. It is used to describe young servants in paradise. It is also used to refer to slave-soldiers in the Abbasid, Ottoman, Safavid and to a lesser ...

Taj al-Din Yildiz Taj al-Din Yildiz (also spelled Yaldiz, Yildoz, and Yalduz, fa, تاج‌ الدین یلدوز) was a Turkic ghulam of the Ghurid dynasty, who, after the death of Sultan Muhammad of Ghor, became the ''de facto'' ruler of Ghazni, while, howeve ...

, who crowned him as the

of the Ghurid dynasty. After a year Taj al-Din Yildiz was forced to surrender

Firozkoh Firozkoh ( Persian: فیروزکوه, ''Fīrōzkōh''), or Turquoise Mountain, was the summer capital of the Ghurid dynasty, in the Ghor Province of central Afghanistan. It was reputedly one of the greatest cities of its age, but was destroyed in ...

to the

Khwarazmian dynasty The Anushtegin dynasty or Anushteginids (English: , fa, ), also known as the Khwarazmian dynasty ( fa, ) was a Persianate C. E. BosworthKhwarazmshahs i. Descendants of the line of Anuštigin In Encyclopaedia Iranica, online ed., 2009: ''" ...

, and Ala al-Din Ali was captured by a Khwarazmian army and was brought to

Khwarazm Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...

, where he lived in an honorable exile in

. Ala al-Din Ali died a few years later.

Sources

* * {{Ghurid dynasty 13th-century Iranian people 12th-century Iranian people Ghurid dynasty 13th-century deaths Year of birth unknown