Ruhullah Khan (d. 1691/1692) was one of the highest-ranking nobles of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

during the reign of

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

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 ...

. He is known for his tenure as the ''

mir bakhshi The ''Bakhshi'' () in the Mughal Empire denoted a number of hierarchical government officials, typically involved with military administration and intelligence. The offices were introduced during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar. ''Bakhshis'' we ...

'' (paymaster-general) of the empire during the latter's rule. He actively participated in Aurangzeb's military campaigns in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

frontier, such as the

Siege of Bijapur The siege of Bijapur began in March 1685 and ended in September 1686 with a Mughal victory. The siege began when Aurangzeb dispatched his son, Muhammad Azam Shah, with a force of nearly 50,000 men to capture Bijapur Fort and defeat Sikandar ...

(1685–1686) and

Siege of Golconda The siege of Golconda (1687 CE) was an eight-month military siege of the Golconda Fort (in present-day Telangana, India). This siege was personally directed by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb against the Golconda Sultanate, ruled by king Abul Ha ...

(1687). He served as the ''

subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who was alternately designated as Sahib- ...

'' (governor) of Mughal Hyderabad in the province's nascent stages.

Personal life

Ruhullah Khan was the son of Khalilullah Khan and Hamida Banu. He was of Iranian descent. His mother was a sister of emperor Aurangzeb's mother, making him well-connected in the Mughal nobility. Ruhullah Khan was a

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

; Shi'ism was viewed with hostility by the

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Aurangzeb and most nobles of the court. Ruhullah Khan had a daughter named Aisha Begum, who was married to the Mughal prince

Azim-us-Shan Mirza Azim-ush-Shan (15 December 1664 – 18 March 1712) was the second son of the 8th Mughal Emperor Shah Alam I and his Rajput wife Amrit Kanwar. He was the great grandson of Shah Jahan and the grandson of Aurangzeb during whose reign he was ...

. He also had a son named Mir Hasan, who bore the titles Khanazad Khan and Ruhullah Khan successively.

Career

Ruhullah Khan was the empire's ''Khan-i-Saman'' (superintendent of the royal household) from 1676 to 1678. In 1685, he participated in the Siege of Bijapur, acting as one of the two commanders of the siege army. He began siege operations alongside Qasim Khan on the first of April. The siege progressed slowly, and eventually Aurangzeb sent both commanders to other missions; Ruhullah Khan was sent to

Ahmadnagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost imp ...

in July. In 1686, Ruhullah Khan was made ''mir bakhshi'' (paymaster-general) of the empire, succeeding Ashraf Khan. He would hold this post until his death in 1692, after which the post was filled by Bahramand Khan. In 1687, Ruhullah Khan was called to offer relief midway in the siege of Golconda, since the siege was moving to little success. He brought reinforcements on July 10 with the Mughal prince Azam Shah. When the fort was later betrayed by a Golconda noble, Ruhullah Khan led the party that stormed the fort and captured

Abul Hasan Qutb Shah Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, also known as Abul Hasan Tana Shah was the eighth and last ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, sovereign of the Kingdom of Golconda in South India. He ruled from 1672 to 1686. The last Sultan of this Shia Islamic dynasty, Tan ...

, ruler of the kingdom. Following the capture and conquest of Golconda, a Mughal administration was instated in the new province. Two months after the conquest, Ruhullah Khan was made governor of the province, replacing a former Golconda noble named Muhammad Ibrahim. He served for less than a year before

Jan Sipar Khan Mir Bahadur Dil (died 1700), known by the title Jan Sipar Khan (), was a noble of the Mughal Empire. He was active during the reign of emperor Aurangzeb, and held offices in the Deccan region of the empire. His most notable position was in the S ...

was appointed as a more permanent governor. In 1689, following the Mughal occupation of the Bedar territories, Ruhullah Khan was deputed to capture

Raichur fort Raichur Fort is a fortress located on a hilltop in the heart of the Raichur in North Karnataka. The Raichur region ( Raichur Doab) has been ruled by several families; the Kakatiya dynasty, Rashtrakutas, Vijayanagar Empire, Bahmanis and Nizams ...

, which was under the control of a Bedar chief. Its capture required a siege that began on the 10th of July and ended successfully on the 29th of November. Ruhullah Khan sent the fort's chief to Hyderabad, where the latter was executed. In May 1691, as Bedar power grew and centered at Wakinkera Fort under Pidia Nayak, Ruhullah Khan was deputed to besiege the fort. He led a failed assault against the fort, followed by an unsuccessful two-month siege. He then opened negotiations with Pidia Nayak, which lasted to the end of 1691. Ruhullah Khan was subsequently withdrawn from the field by Aurangzeb, who sent a new force to attack the fort.

Death

Ruhullah Khan died around the years 1691/1692; historian

Jadunath Sarkar Sir Jadunath Sarkar, (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. Sarkar was educated in English literature and worked as a teacher for some time but later shifted his focus to h ...

estimated around June 1692. The emperor Aurangzeb personally visited Ruhullah Khan as he ailed on his deathbed. A primary source of Aurangzeb's reign relates an anecdote that on his deathbed, Ruhullah Khan insisted on converting from the Shi'ite faith to Sunnism; he asked emperor Aurangzeb to marry his two daughters to Sunnis, and have his last rites performed by a Sunni ''

qazi Qazi may refer to: * Qadi A qadi (; ) is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History ...

''. Upon the arrival of the ''qazi'', Ruhullah Khan secretly requested that the last rites be performed by a Shia associate of his instead; this news was relayed to the emperor, who permitted this but expressed his indignation at Ruhullah Khan's deception.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Ruhullah Mughal nobility Mughal generals Subahdars of Hyderabad 17th-century Shia Muslims 1690s deaths