Mir Yar-Ahmad Khuzani Isfahani ( fa, امیر یاراحمد خوزانی اصفهانی; died 1512), better known by his honorific title of Najm-e Sani ("The Second Star") was a

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 ...

nobleman from the Khuzani family, who was the third person to serve as the ''vakil'' (vicegerent) of the Safavid Empire.

Biography

Najm was born during the 15th-century in Isfahan, and belonged to a prominent family which could trace its existence in Isfahan back to the 1440s. He had a brother named Mahmud Beg Khuzani. In 1509/10, Najm succeeded

Amir Najm al-Din Mas'ud Gilani Mir Najm Zargar Gilani ( fa, میر نجم زرگر گیلانی), also known as Shaykh Najm al-Din Zargar Rashti, was an Iranian aristocrat of Gilaki origin, who was the second person to serve as the ''vakil'' (vicegerent) of the Safavid Empire. ...

in the ''vakil'' office, and later in 1512, he, along with the Timurid prince Babur attacked the marauding

Uzbeks The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...

, who had although suffered a heavy defeat in 1510 by Shah Ismail I, kept making incursions into the eastern Safavid province of Khorasan. It is disputed whether Najm led the attack without approval from Ismail I or not. After having crossed the Oxus River, Najm seized

Qarshi Qarshi ( uz, Qarshi/Қарши, ; fa, نخشب ''Nakhshab'') is a city in southern Uzbekistan. It is the capital of Qashqadaryo Region. Administratively, Qarshi is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Qashqadaryo. It ...

, and had the city sacked and its inhabitants brutally massacred, which resulted in the death of over 1,500 men, and even children and women. A small

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamma ...

community was also massacred by the army of Najm, the prominent poet Maulana Binai being one of them. Najm then attacked Ghazdewan, a town near Bukhara, but was unable to capture the town. Babur then advised Najm to retreat to Qarshi in order to wait for reinforcements. Najm, however, declined, which resulted in the mutiny of several

Qizilbash Qizilbash or Kizilbash ( az, Qızılbaş; ota, قزيل باش; fa, قزلباش, Qezelbāš; tr, Kızılbaş, lit=Red head ) were a diverse array of mainly Turkoman Shia militant groups that flourished in Iranian Azerbaijan, Anatolia, t ...

chieftains who had been with him during his campaign. On November, a battle ensured at Ghazdewan between the Uzbeks and what was left of the army of Najm, which resulted in his defeat and capture. He was shortly executed, and was succeeded by Abd al-Baqi Yazdi in the ''vakil'' office.

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Najm-e Thani Military personnel killed in action Military personnel from Isfahan 16th-century Iranian military personnel 1512 deaths 15th-century births Khuzani family Grand viziers of the Safavid Empire Vakils of Safavid Iran Commanders-in-chief of Safavid Iran 16th-century people of Safavid Iran