Abu'l-Hasan ( 1569 - 12 June 1641) entitled by the Mughal emperor Jahangir as Asaf Khan, was the '' Grand Vizier'' (Prime minister) of the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. He previously served as the ''

vakil ''Vakil'' was one of the highest positions in the hierarchy of Safavid Iran, denoting the viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term der ...

'' (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 the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, oft ...

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

Nur Jahan Nur Jahan, born Mehr-un-Nissa P ersian: نورجهان (; – 18 December 1645) was the wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Jahangir from 1620 until his death in 1627. Nur Jahan was born Mehr-un-Nissa, as the daughter of a Mirza Gh ...

, the chief consort of Jahangir.

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 (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, and was the youngest son of

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

, a poet and

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...

of Mohammad Khan Tekkelu and his son Tatar Soltan, who was the governor of the Safavid province of Khorasan. Asaf Khan's mother,

Asmat Begam Asmat Begum (died 1621) was the wife of Mirza Ghias Beg, the Prime minister of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, and the mother of Mughal empress Nur Jahan, the power behind the emperor. Asmat Begum was also the paternal grandmother of Empress Mumtaz ...

, 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 (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

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

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 New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

Marriage

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

noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of

Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanization, Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Qazvin Province, Province of Qazvin in Iran. ...

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

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (22 November 1600 – 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the subahdar of Mughal Bengal. A maternal uncle to the emperor Aurangzeb, he acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan initially governed ...

, 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 ( fa, ), better known as Quṭb ad-Dīn Khān Kokah ( fa, ; 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 Benga ...

Governor of Lahore

Mirza Abul Hasan Asaf Khan was appointed Governor 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 ...

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 other son) 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 soldier and ruler of the Nurpur kingdom. Folklore In 1630 Jagat Singh sided with his people of Nurpur, who were starving during the famine and paid taxes from his own pocket. A lack of rain for three years cause ...

Pathania. 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 ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') 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 ''immureme ...

was built in

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

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

Tomb of Nur Jahan The Tomb of Nur Jahan ( ur, ) 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 era in 18th century for use at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The ...

and adjacent to the

Tomb of Jahangir The Tomb of Jahangir ( ur, ) is a 17th-century mausoleum built for the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. The mausoleum dates from 1637, and is located in Shahdara Bagh near city of Lahore, Pakistan, along the banks of the Ravi River. The site is famous ...

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
History of Asaf Khan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abul-Hasan Asaf Khan 1641 deaths Mughal nobility Iranian emigrants to the Mughal Empire 1569 births 17th-century Iranian politicians 16th-century Iranian politicians Grand viziers of the Mughal Empire Subahdars of Lahore