Abu'l-Hasan ( 1569 – 12 June 1641) entitled by the Mughal emperor

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

as Asaf Khan, was the

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

(Prime Minister) of the fifth Mughal emperor

, a position he held from the time of death of

Mirza Ghiyas Beg Mirza Ghiyas Beg (), also known by his title I'timad-ud-Daulah (), was an important official in the Mughal Empire, whose children included the generals, wives and mothers of the Mughal emperors. Born in Tehran, Mirza Ghiyas Beg belonged to a fa ...

till the accession of

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

. He previously served as the vakil (the highest Mughal administrative office) of Jahangir. Asaf Khan is perhaps best known for being the father of Arjumand Banu Begum (better known by her title

Mumtaz Mahal Mumtaz Mahal (; ; born Arjumand Banu Begum; 27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631) was the empress consort of Mughal Empire from 1628 to 1631 as the chief consort of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of t ...

), the chief consort of Shah Jahan and the older brother of Empress

Nur Jahan Nur Jahan (; 31 May 1577 – 18 December 1645), born Mehr-un-Nissa was the twentieth wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. More decisive and proactive than her husband, Nur Jahan is considered by certain historians to have be ...

, and the maternal grandfather of mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

Family

Asaf Khan was the son of the

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 ...

noble Mirza Ghias Beg (popularly known by his title of Itimad-ud-Daulah), who served as the Prime minister of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Ghiyas Beg was a native of

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, and was the youngest son of

Khvajeh Mohammad-Sharif Khvajeh Mohammad-Sharif () was a Persian people, Persian statesman, who occupied the post of vizier of several Safavid Iran, Safavid provinces. He was also a poet, who wrote under the pen name Hejri (). Biography Mohammad-Sharif was a native of ...

, a poet and

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

of Mohammad Khan Tekkelu and his son Tatar Soltan, who was the governor of the

Safavid The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

province of

Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

. Asaf Khan's mother, Asmat Begam, was the daughter of Mirza Ala-ud-Daula Aqa Mulla. Both of Asaf Khan's parents were descendants of illustrious families – Ghias Beg from Muhammad Sharif and Asmat Begam from the Aqa Mulla clan. Asaf Khan's family had come to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

impoverished in 1577, when his father, Mirza Ghias Beg, was taken into the service of Emperor

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

Marriage

In his prime youth, Asaf Khan was married to Diwanji Begum, the daughter of a

noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of

Qazvin Qazvin (; ; ) is a city in the Central District (Qazvin County), Central District of Qazvin County, Qazvin province, Qazvin province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the largest city in the provi ...

, also entitled Asaf Khan (II). The couple had at least ten children together: three sons,

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (b. 22 November 1600 – d. 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the Subahdar of Mughal Bengal. He was maternal uncle to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan ini ...

, Mirza Bahmanyar, and Farrukh Fal, and seven daughters, Arjumand Banu Begum (later known as

), Malika Banu Begum, Farzana Begum, Saliha Banu Begum, Malja Banu Begum, Mihr-un-Nissa Begum, and Najiba Banu Begum. Arjumand was married to Jahangir's third son, Prince Khurram (later known as Shah Jahan) in 1612 and became his most beloved wife. Parwar Khanam was married to Mohtashim Khan, the son of Jahangir's foster brother

Qutubuddin Koka Shaykh Khūbū (), better known as Quṭb ad-Dīn Khān Kokah (; 13 August 1569 – 20 May 1607) was the Mughal subahdar (provincial governor) of Bengal Subah during the reign of the emperor Jahangir. He was appointed governor of Bengal on 2 Septe ...

Vakil of state and Governor of Lahore

Mirza Abul Hasan Asaf Khan with the influence of his powerful sister Nur Jahan, the wife of Emperor Jahangir, who she at that time held all the power, was appointed as Vakil (highest administrative post) in 1611 and then Governor of

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

(the temporary capital of that time) by Emperor Jahangir in 1625. After the demise of Jahangir in 1627, he was instrumental in securing the accession of his son-in-law Shah Jahan by colluding with Dawar Bakht (Jahangir's grandson) and defeating the acting emperor Prince Shahryar (Nur Jahan's son-in-law, married to her daughter by her previous marriage to Sher Afgan) in a battle near Lahore. Asaf Khan enjoyed a position even more elevated than in the preceding reign and retained it until 1632, when he failed in the siege of Bijapur, from which time he seems to have lost favour.

Positions

* Grand Vizier (Wazir-e-Azam of the Mughal Empire) – (1628–41) * Subehdar of Lahore (1625–27) * Subehdar of Gujrat Subah (1630–39) * Faujdar of Gagron (Malwa Subah) – (1635–41)

Death and burial place

Asaf Khan died on 12 June 1641 while engaged in fighting against the forces of rebel

Raja Jagat Singh Raja Jagat Singh was a Rajput ruler of the Nurpur kingdom. History When the Nurpur kingdom was being heavily taxed in 1630 by the Mughals, its king Raja Jagat Singh instead of taxing sided with people, who were starving during the famine a ...

Pathania Pathania is a surname of Indian origin. It is a sub-clan of the Tomar (Tanwar/Toor) Rajput clan from northern India. The royal family of Nurpur kingdom belonged to this clan. Notable people People with the surname Pathania, who may or may ...

. Asaf Khan left an immense fortune, in spite of the quarter of a million sterling that his palace at

cost him. His

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

was built in

Shahdara Bagh Shahdara Bagh (; meaning “''King’s Way Garden”'') is a historic precinct located across the Ravi River from the Walled City of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan. Shahdara Bagh is the site of several Mughal-era monuments, including the Tomb of J ...

, Lahore, as per Shah Jahan's orders. It lies west of the

Tomb of Nur Jahan The Tomb of Nur Jahan () is a 17th-century mausoleum in Lahore, Pakistan, that was built for the Mughal empress Nur Jahan. The tomb's marble was plundered during the Sikh Empire era in the 18th century for use at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. ...

and adjacent to the

Tomb of Jahangir The Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor Jahangir is buried in a mausoleum dating from 1637, located in Shahdara Bagh near city of Lahore, along the banks of River Ravi, in Punjab, Pakistan. The site is famous for its interiors that are extensively embe ...

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
History of Asaf Khan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abul-Hasan Asaf Khan 1641 deaths Iranian emigrants to the Mughal Empire 1560s births 17th-century Iranian politicians 16th-century Iranian politicians Grand viziers of the Mughal Empire Subahdars of Lahore 17th-century Mughal Empire people