Sultan Shahāb-ud-Din Muhammad Ghori (also spelled Ghauri, Ghouri) (Persian: سلطان شہاب الدین محمد غوری), originally called Mu'izzuddīn Muḥammad Bin Sām (and also referred to by Orientalists as Muhammad of Ghor and famously known as just Ghori) (1150 – March 15, 1206), was one of the rulers of the Ghurid dynasty from the famous house of Sur who were rulers of Ghor for five hundred years. He is credited with laying the foundation of Islamic occupation in India that lasted for several centuries. He reigned over a territory spanning present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.
Muiz-ud-din, son of Sam Suri, nicknamed Shahab-ud-din which means "The (Flashing) Fire of Religion (Islam)" took the city of Ghazni in 1173 to avenge the death of his ancestor Muhammad Suri at the hands of Mahmud of Ghazni and used it as a launching-pad for expansion into northern India.[1] In the meantime, he assisted his brother Ghiyasuddin in his contest with the Khwarezmid Empire for the lordship of Khorāsān in Western Asia. In 1175 Ghori captured Multan from the Hamid Ludi dynasty which was also Pashtun but were alleged to be un-Islamic on the account of their association with Ismailite Shi'iate sect and also took Uch in 1175. He also annexed the Ghaznavid principality of Lahore in 1186, the last haven of his Afghan but Non-Pashtun Persianized rivals.[1] After the death of Ghiyasuddin in 1202, he became the successor of the Ghurid Empire and ruled until his assassination in 1206 near Jhelum in modern-day Pakistan.[2]
A confused struggle then ensued among the remaining Ghūrid leaders, and the Khwarezmids were able to take over the Ghūrids' empire in about 1215. Though the Ghūrids' empire was short-lived and petty Ghurid Suri states remained in power until the arrival of Timurids, Shahabuddin Ghori's conquests laid the foundations of Muslim rule in India. Qutb-ud-din Aibak, a former slave (Mamluk) of Muhammad Ghori, was the first sultan of Delhi.
Background
The Ghuristan region remained primarily Hindu and Buddhist till 12th century. It was then Islamised by the Ghaznavids and later gave rise to the Ghurids.
The rise to power of the Ghurids at Ghur, a small isolated area located in the mountain vastness between the Ghaznavid empire and the Seljukids, was an unusual and unexpected development. The area was so remote that till the 11th century, it had remained a Hindu enclave surrounded by Muslim principalities. It was converted to Islam in the early part of the 12th century after Mahmud raided it, and left teachers to instruct the Ghurids in the precepts of Islam. Even then it is believed that paganism, i.e. a variety of Mahayana Buddhism persisted in the area till the end of the century.[3]
Early life
Shahab-ud-din Ghori was born Muizz-ud-dīn Muhammad Bin Sām in 1150 CE in the Ghor region of Afghanistan. The exact date of his birth is unknown. His father, Baha-ud-din Sām bin Hussain, was the local ruler of the Ghor region at the time.[1]
The Ghori Empire
The Ghor region laid on the western boundary of the Ghaznavid Empire, which, in the early 12th century, covered an area stretching from what is now central Afghanistan to the Punjab in what is now Pakistan, with summer capital at Ghazni and winter capital at Lahore. Beginning in the mid-12th century, Ghor expressed its independence from the Ghaznavid Empire. In 1149, the Ghaznavid ruler Bahram Shāh poisoned a local Ghūrid leader, Quṭb ud-Dīn, who had taken refuge in the city of Ghazna after a family quarrel. In revenge, the Ghūrid chief Ala-ud-Din Husain Shah sacked and burned the city of Ghazna and put the city into fire for seven days and seven nights. It earned him the title of Jahānsuz, meaning "the world burner".[4] The Ghaznavids retook the city with Seljuk help, but lost it to Oghuz Turk freebooters.[4] The Ghurids reconquered Ghaznā from the Oghuz Turks and in 1173, Shahabuddin Ghori became governor of the Ghazna province while his brother, Ghiyasuddin Ghori, became the Sultan of the Ghurid Empire.
Mahmud Ghazni had attacked Ghor and the King Amir Suri, an ancestor of Shahabuddin Ghori, who committed suicide with poison after being taken prisoner. Various sources including Ferishta and Siraj attest to these events.
According to Minhaj us Siraj, Amir Suri was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni, taken prisoner along with his son, and taken to Ghazni, where Amir Suri died.[6]
Soor, being made prisoner was brought to the king, but having taken poison, which he always kept under his ring, he died in a few hours; his country was annexed to the dominions of Ghizny.[5]
A little over a hundred years after Mahmud, one of his successors to the throne of Ghazni fell into a blood feud with the ruler of Ghor, southeast of Herat. In reprisal Ghazni was sacked by the prince of Ghor a fellow Muslim in 1150, and burned for seven days and nights. All the magnificent Mahmudi palaces and halls were destroyed and plunder, devastation and, and slaughter were continuous. It might be a historian reporting one of Mahmud's own murderous Indian raids. The Ghori victor earned the title of Jahansoze, the world burner. The bells ring again: the perpetrations of the northern foreigners were not essentially anti-Hindu. They could be quite merciless with Muslim rivals as well, for that was a part of their way of life. Ghazni now fell to a Turkman tribe which was in its turn ousted by the nephew of Jahansoze in 1173. The latter gave it to his brother later to be known as Muhammad of Ghori.[7]
Muhammad of Ghori launched expeditions into India, first capturing Multan from a fellow Muslim chief in 1175–76. Three years later he invaded Gujarat and was roundly defeated by the Hindu King. Another three years later, and Shahabuddin Ghori was back to take Peshawar and Sialkot in 1181. Now in alliance with the Hindu Raja of Jammu Vijaya Dev, he attacked Lahore in 1187, which was held by his ancestral enemy, the descendant of Mahmud of Ghazni, and made him prisoner. Mahmud of Ghazni's line of Sultans and Governors became extinguished.[7]
Shahabuddin Ghori is credited with the decimation of the Ghaznavids, his ancestral enemies.
In alliance with the Hindu Raja of Jammu Vijaya Dev, he attacked Lahore in 1187, which was held by his ancestral enemy, the descendent of Mahmud of Ghazni, and made him prisoner. Mahmud of Ghazni's line of Sultans and Governors became extinguished.[7]
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