Qutb al-Din (died 1386) was the

Mihrabanid The Mihrabanid dynasty (Persian: خاندان مهربانیان) was a Persian Muslim dynasty that ruled Sistan (or Nimruz) from 1236 until the mid-16th century. It was the third indigenous Muslim dynasty of Sistan, having been preceded by the S ...

malik Malik (; ; ; variously Romanized ''Mallik'', ''Melik'', ''Malka'', ''Malek'', ''Maleek'', ''Malick'', ''Mallick'', ''Melekh'') is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic d ...

Sistan Sistān (), also known as Sakastān (, , current name: Zabol) and Sijistan (), is a historical region in south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of present-day south-western Afghanistan, and south-western Pakistan. Mostly correspond ...

from 1380 until 1383. He was the son of

Izz al-Din ibn Rukn al-Din Mahmud Izz al-Din (died September 29, 1382) was the Mihrabanid malik of Sistan from 1352 until 1380. He was the son of Rukn al-Din Mahmud. Biography Izz al-Din was appointed as malik by the notables of Sistan in 1352 after the death of Jalal al-D ...

Biography

During his father's lifetime Qutb al-Din had not been given a role in the government. He eventually grew angry over this state of affairs and sided with a faction seeking to murder Izz al-Din's vizier, who had a large amount of influence over the malik. In 1380 they openly revolted and defeated Izz al-Din's army on the field. Qutb al-Din suffered a temporary setback when the

Kartids The Kart dynasty, also known as the Kartids (), was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Tajik origin, closely related to the Ghurids, that ruled over a large part of Khorasan during the 13th and 14th centuries. Ruling from their capital at Herat and cent ...

and the local malik of Farah invaded Sistan and reinstalled Izz al-Din in the capital. By the end of the year, however, Qutb al-Din had defeated the invaders, forced his father into exile and later received the latter's renunciation of the throne. Over the course of his first year in power, he worked at consolidating his rule in Sistan; he led an army against the town of Uq and killed many of the local landowners who had risen in opposition to him. In the meantime, the amir

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

had begun his expansion into

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, forcing the

Kartid The Kart dynasty, also known as the Kartids (), was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Tajik origin, closely related to the Ghurids, that ruled over a large part of Khorasan during the 13th and 14th centuries. Ruling from their capital at Herat and centr ...

dynasty of

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

into submission. Around this time, an envoy arrived to Qutb al-Din's court and requested a hostage as a sign of good faith. The malik responded by sending a relative, Taj al-Din Shah-i Shahan, to Timur's camp with an offer of tribute; the Mihrabanid made a good impression on Timur and returned to Sistan. In November 1383, however, Timur and his army arrived in Sistan. After negotiations between the two sides failed a battle was fought in which the Mihrabanid forces were defeated. After building a pyramid of human skulls out of the slain Mihrabanid soldiers, the Timurid army forced its way into Shahr-i Sistan and Qutb al-Din was imprisoned. Timur appointed Shah-i Shahan as governor of Sistan and proceeded to ravage the province. Qutb al-Din was deported to

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, where he was executed three years later at the age of thirty.

References

*Bosworth, C.E. ''The History of the Saffarids of Sistan and the Maliks of Nimruz (247/861 to 949/1542-3)''. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:Qutb al-Din 1386 deaths Mihrabanids Year of birth unknown 14th-century Iranian people