Malik Ayaz (

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 ...

: ملک ایاز), son of Aymāq Abu'n-Najm, was a slave from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

who rose to the rank of officer and general in the army of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (also known as ''Mahmud Ghaznavi)''. Malik Ayaz's slave-general of Mahmud inspired poems and stories, and the Muslim historians and Sufis commemorate Malik Ayaz due to his unwavering feudalistic loyalty to Mahmud Ghaznavi.

Early life and feudal career

In 1021, the Sultan

Mahmud Ghaznavi Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At th ...

raised Ayaz to kingship, awarding him the throne of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

, which the Sultan had taken after a long siege and a fierce battle in which the city was torched and depopulated. As the first Muslim governor of Lahore, he rebuilt and repopulated the city. He also added many important features, such as a masonry fort, which he built in the period of 1037–1040 on the ruins of the previous one, demolished in the fighting, and city gates (as recorded by Munshi Sujan Rae Bhandari, author of the ''Khulasatut Tawarikh'' (1596 C.E.). The present Lahore Fort is built in the same location. Under his rule the city became a cultural and academic center, renowned for poetry. The tomb of Malik Ayaz can still be seen in the Rang Mahal area of

. The tomb and the garden was destroyed by the Sikhs during their rule of Lahore and the tomb was rebuilt after the Partition of India.

Malik Ayaz in Sufism

Amjad Farid Sabri the slain

Qawwal Qawwali (Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: ( Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

performed a song dedicated to Malik Ayaz, which praises the man for his feudalistic loyalty to Mahmud of Ghazni, the song also mentions

Ajmer Sharif Dargah Ajmer Sharif Dargah (also Ajmer Dargah, Ajmer Sharif or Dargah Sharif) is a Sufi tomb (''dargah'') of the revered Sufi saint, Moinuddin Chishti, located at Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The shrine has Chishti's grave (Maqbara). Location Ajmer Sh ...

and how it attracts female devotees with the same devotion.

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last=Ritter , first=Hellmut , title=Handbook of Oriental studies: Near and Middle East , volume=69 , publisher=Brill , year=2003 Ghaznavid officials 11th-century Muslims 11th-century rulers in Asia History of Lahore Former slaves People of Georgian descent Iranian slaves