Ali Sher Khalji

ʿAlī Sher bin ʿIwaz Khaljī (Bengali: আলী শের খলজী, Persian: علی شیر بن عوض خلجی; fl. 1221) was a former governor of northwest Bengal (Birbhum) serving under his father,[1] Sultan Iwaz Shah of the Khalji dynasty of Bengal.[2] His name finds mention in the earliest known stone inscription mentioning a Muslim ruler of Bengal.[3]

Ali Sher Khalji
Governor of Northwest Bengal
In office
1221-1227
MonarchIwaz Khalji
Personal details
Bornc. 1180
Diedc. 1227
ChildrenMalik Balkha Khalji
Parent
RelativesKhalji dynasty
Personal
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceHanafi
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Biography

Khalji's grandfather Husayn Khalji was an inhabitant of Garmsir. The family belonged to the Sunni Muslim Khalaj tribe,[4][5][6] a tribe of Turkic origin that after migration from Turkestan had later settled in Afghanistan for over 200 years.[7][8][9] Khalji was the son and heir of Iwaz Khalji, a deputy of Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji who participated in the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti in Bengal. His father served as Bengal's governor twice under the Delhi Sultanate and also independently ruled as a Sultan.[10]

Khalji was appointed by his father to be the governor of northwestern Bengal,[11] a territory which spanned Birbhum and neighbouring areas.[12] In his governorship, a khanqah was endowed by Ibn Muhammad of Maragheh in 7 Jumada al-Akhir 618 AH (August 1221) in Sian, Suri Sadar.[13] This khanqah now holds the mazar (mausoleum) of Muslim preacher Makhdum Shah.[14] Indian epigraphist Z. A. Desai is of the opinion that Khalji was not merely a governor, but actually a Sultan who was ruling after his father's death. However, most historians reject this unconventional assumption.[15][16]

Sukhamay Mukherjee equates Ali Sher Khalji with Muizuddin, a name found in another inscription during Iwaz Khalji's reign that refers to him as his son.[17]

See also

References
  1. Pakistan Archaeology. Department of Archaeology, Pakistan. 1991. pp. 181–183.
  2. Siddiq, Mohammad Yusuf (2011). "Sufism, Sheikhs and Khanqahs of Bengal". In Alam, Ishrat; Hussain, Syed Ijaz (eds.). The Varied Facets of History: Essays in Honour of Aniruddha Ray. pp. 147–148.
  3. Shanawaz, AKM (2012). "Inscriptions". In Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  4. Minhāju-s Sirāj (1881). Tabaḳāt-i-nāsiri: a general history of the Muhammadan dynastics of Asia, including Hindustān, from A.H. 194 (810 A.D.) to A.H. 658 (1260 A.D.) and the irruption of the infidel Mughals into Islām. Bibliotheca Indica #78. Vol. 1. Translated by Henry George Raverty. Calcutta, India: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (printed by Gilbert & Rivington). p. 548. Archived from the original on 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  5. the Khiljī tribe had long been settled in what is now Afghanistan ... Khalji Dynasty Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 August 2010.
  6. Satish Chandra (2004). Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) - Part One. Har-Anand. p. 41. ISBN 978-81-241-1064-5. Archived from the original on 2018-12-26. Retrieved 2022-07-20. The Khaljis were a Turkish tribe from southwest Ghur. However, Bakhtiyar was ungainly in appearance...
  7. Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava (1966). The History of India, 1000 A.D.-1707 A.D. (Second ed.). Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. 98. OCLC 575452554. Archived from the original on 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2022-07-20:"His ancestors, after having migrated from Turkistan, had lived for over 200 years in the Helmand valley and Lamghan, parts of Afghanistan called Garmasir or the hot region, and had adopted Afghan manners and customs. They were, therefore, wrongly looked upon as Afghans by the Turkish nobles in India as they had intermarried with local Afghans and adopted their customs and manners. They were looked down as non Turks by Turks."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  8. Abraham Eraly (2015). The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate. Penguin Books. p. 126. ISBN 978-93-5118-658-8. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2022-07-20:"The prejudice of Turks was however misplaced in this case, for Khaljis were actually ethnic Turks. But they had settled in Afghanistan long before the Turkish rule was established there, and had over the centuries adopted Afghan customs and practices, intermarried with the local people, and were therefore looked down on as non-Turks by pure-bred Turks."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  9. Radhey Shyam Chaurasia (2002). History of medieval India: from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. Atlantic. p. 28. ISBN 81-269-0123-3:"The Khaljis were a Turkish tribe but having been long domiciled in Afghanistan, had adopted some Afghan habits and customs. They were treated as Afghans in Delhi Court.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  10. Sarkar, Jadunath, ed. (1973) [First published 1948]. The History of Bengal. Vol. II: Muslim Period, 1200–1757. Patna: Academica Asiatica. pp. 3, 8. OCLC 924890.
  11. Azim, Firdous, ed. (2002). Politics and Culture: Essays in Honour of Serajul Islam Choudhury. University of Dhaka. p. 343.
  12. Siddiq, Mohammad Yusuf (2015). Epigraphy and Islamic Culture: Inscriptions of the Early Muslim Rulers of Bengal (1205-1494). Taylor & Francis. pp. 64, 92. ISBN 9781317587460.
  13. Hameed, Syeda Saiyidain, ed. (1992). Contemporary Relevance of Sufism. Indian Council for Cultural Relations. p. 105. ISBN 9788185434056.
  14. Abdul Karim (2012). "Iranians, The". In Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  15. Abdul Karim. মুসলিম-বাংলার ইতিহাস ও ঐতিহ্য [History and heritage of Muslim Bengal] (in Bengali).
  16. Shahnawaz, A. K. Muhammad (1999). মুদ্রায় ও শিলালিপিতে মধ্যযুগের বাংলার সমাজ সংস্কৃতি, 1200-1538 খ্রি [Social Culture of Medieval Bengal in Coins and Inscriptions, 1200-1538 CE] (in Bengali). Bangla Academy. p. 67. ISBN 9789840738489.
  17. Mukhopadhyay, Sukhamay (1988). বাংলায় মুসলিম অধিকারের আদি পর্ব, 1204-1338 খ্রীঃ [Early phase of Muslim authority in Bengal] (in Bengali). Sāhityaloka. pp. 40–44.
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