Shāh Ashraf Hotak, (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: ; died 1730), also known as Shāh Ashraf Ghiljī (), son of

Abdul Aziz Hotak Shāh Abdul Azīz Hotak (Pashto/Dari: ; died 1717) was the second ruler of the Ghilji Hotak dynasty of Kandahar, in what is now the modern state of Afghanistan. He was crowned in 1715 after the death of his brother, Mirwais Hotak. He was the fathe ...

, was the fourth ruler of the

Hotak dynasty The Hotak dynasty ( ps, fa, ) was an Afghan monarchy founded by Ghilji Pashtuns that briefly ruled portions of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1720s. It was established in April 1709 by Mirwais Hotak, who led a successful revolution against t ...

. An

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

from the

Ghilji The Ghiljī ( ps, غلجي, ; fa, خیلجی, Xelji) also spelled Khilji, Khalji, or Ghilzai or Ghilzay (), are one of the largest Pashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland is Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji in Afghanistan but they have also sett ...

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

, he served as a commander in the army of

Mahmud Hotak Shāh Mahmūd Hotak, (Pashto/Dari: ), also known as Shāh Mahmūd Ghiljī () (lived 1697 – April 22, 1725), was an Afghan ruler of the Hotak dynasty who overthrew the heavily declined Safavid dynasty to briefly become the king of Persia from ...

during his revolt against the heavily declining Safavid Persians. Ashraf also participated in the

Battle of Gulnabad The Battle of Gulnabad (Sunday, March 8, 1722) was fought between the military forces from Hotaki Dynasty and the army of the Safavid Empire. It further cemented the eventual fall of the Safavid dynasty, which had been declining for decades. Af ...

. In 1725, he briefly succeeded to the throne to become Shah of Persia after he killed his cousin Mahmud. The nephew of

Mirwais Hotak Mir Ways ibn Shah 'Alam, also known as Mirwais Khan Hotak (Pashto/Dari: ) (1673–1715) was an Afghan ruler from the Ghilji tribe of Kandahar, Afghanistan, and the founder of the Hotak dynasty. In 1709, after overthrowing and assassinating Geo ...

, his reign was noted for the sudden decline in the Hotak tribal rule under increasing pressure from the two great powers of the time Turkish,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and Persian forces. Ashraf Khan halted both the Russian and Turkish onslaughts. He defeated the Ottoman Empire, who wanted to reestablish their former arch rivals, the

Safavids Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

, back on the throne, in a battle near

Kermanshah Kermanshah ( fa, کرمانشاه, Kermânšâh ), also known as Kermashan (; romanized: Kirmaşan), is the capital of Kermanshah Province, located from Tehran in the western part of Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population is 946,68 ...

after the enemy had come close to Isfahan. This led to peace negotiations with the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name ...

, which were briefly disrupted after Ashraf's ambassador insisted his master should be

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

of the

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and the Ottoman Sultan Caliph of the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. This caused great umbrage to the Ottomans, but a peace agreement was finally signed ( Treaty of Hamedan) due to superior Ottoman diplomacy in October 1727. Mapofthehotaks1728

Ultimately, the royal Persian army of Shah

Tahmasp II Tahmasp II ( fa, طهماسب, translit=Ṭahmāsb or ; 1704? – 11 February 1740) was one of the last Safavid rulers of Persia (Iran). Name "Tahmasp" ( fa, طهماسب, translit=Ṭahmāsb) is a New Persian name, ultimately derived from Ol ...

(One of the Shah Sultan Husayn's sons) under the leadership of

Nader Nader is a masculine given name and surname of Arabic origin ( ''Nādir'', meaning "rare", "unique") and may refer to: Persons Given name * Nader Shah, former Shah of Iran (Persia) * Nader Ahmadi (born 1986), Iranian football player * Nader ...

defeated Ashraf's Ghilji forces in a decisive battle known as the Battle of Damghan in October 1729, banishing and driving out the Afghans back to what is now

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 ...

Death

When escaping from Persia, Ashraf was captured and murdered by the Baloch

Khan of Kalat The Khanate of Kalat ( bal, کلاتءِ ھانات) was a Baloch Khanate that existed from 1512 to 1955 in the centre of the modern-day province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Its rulers were Brahui speakers. Prior to that they were subjects of ...

Mir Mohabbat Khan Baloch in 1730. Ashraf Khan's death marked the end of Hotak rule in Persia, but the country of Afghanistan was still under Shah

Hussain Hotak Shah Hussain Hotak, (Pashto/Dari: ), son of Mirwais Hotak, was the fifth and last ruler of the Hotak dynasty. An ethnic Pashtun (''Afghan'') from the Ghilji tribe, he succeeded to the throne after the death of his brother Mahmud Hotak in 1725. ...

's control until Nader Shah's 1738 conquest of Kandahar, where the young Ahmad Shah Durrani was held prisoner. There was only a short pause before the establishment of the last Afghan Empire (modern

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

) by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747.

Death

See also

References

Further reading