Islam Shah Suri (reigned: 1545–1554) was the second ruler of the

Suri dynasty The Sur Empire ( ps, د سرو امپراتورۍ, dë sru amparāturəi; fa, امپراطوری سور, emperâturi sur) was an Afghan dynasty which ruled a large territory in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent for nearly 16 yea ...

which ruled the part of India in the mid-16th century. His original name was Jalal Khan and he was the second son of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

History

On his father's death, an emergency meeting of nobles chose Jalal Khan to be successor instead of his elder brother Adil Khan, since he had shown greater military ability. Jalal Khan was crowned on 26 May 1545 and took the title "Islam Shah". He was still worried that his brother would threaten his power and tried to have him captured. But Adil Khan evaded his grasp and raised an army. It marched on Islam Shah while he was at

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 ...

. In the battle Islam Shah came out victorious and Adil Khan fled, never to be seen again. The support some of the nobles had given his brother made Islam Shah suspicious and he ruthlessly purged their ranks, strictly subordinating the nobility to the crown. He continued his father's policies of efficient administration and increased centralisation. He had little opportunity for military campaigning; the fugitive Mughal emperor

Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northe ...

, whom his father had overthrown, made one abortive attempt to attack him. He did however lead one major campaign against Kalinjar. Due to his father's failure at his attempt to capture the fort, he laid siege to it and tried to capture it. After many days of fighting he finally managed to capture the fort and to avenge his father's death, he had the entire

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

garrison inside the fort slaughtered.

Death

Islam Shah died on 22 November 1554. He was succeeded by his son Firuz Shah Suri, who was only twelve. Within a few days the boy ruler had been murdered by Sher Shah's nephew Muhammad Mubariz Khan, who then ascended the throne as Muhammad Adil Shah. The incomplete tomb of Islam Shah lies about a kilometer to the North-West of Sher Shah's tomb. Islam Khan Tomb, Sasaram

References

External links

Islam Shah Sur, the forerunner of Akbar in reforms and policies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Islam Shah Suri 1554 deaths Sur Empire 16th-century Indian Muslims 16th-century Indian monarchs Indian people of Pashtun descent 1545 in India Year of birth unknown