Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad

Ghiyath was born in 1139; he was the son of Baha al-Din Sam I, who briefly reigned as king of the Ghurid dynasty in 1149. Ghiyath also had a younger brother named Mu'izz al-Din. During his early life, Ghiyath along with Mu'izz al-Din were imprisoned by their uncle Ala al-Din Husayn but were later released by the latter's son Sayf al-Din Muhammad.[2] When Sayf died in 1163, the Ghurid nobles supported Ghiyath, and helped him ascend the throne.

When Ghiyath ascended to the throne, he was aided by his brother in the killing of a rival Ghurid chief named Abu'l Abbas. However, this was not the end of Ghurid family disputes; Ghiyath was soon challenged by his uncle Fakhr al-Din Masud, who claimed the throne for himself and had allied with Taj al-Din Yildiz, the Seljuq governor of Herat and Balkh.[3] However, the coalition was defeated by Ghiyath and Mu'izz al-Din at Ragh-i Zar. Ghiyath defeated and killed the Seljuq governor during the battle, and thereafter proceeded to conquer Zamindawar, Badghis, Gharchistan, and Guzgan. He spared Fakhr al-Din and restored him as the ruler of Bamiyan. Fakhr al-Din later died and was succeeded by his son Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Masud, who quickly seized Balkh, Chaghaniyan, Vakhsh, Jarum, Badakhshan, and Shighnan from the Kara-Khitan Khanate, and was thus given the title of Sultan by Ghiyath.[4]

In 1173, Ghiyath invaded Ghazni and defeated the Oghuz Turks, who had taken the city from the Ghaznavids. He then installed his brother Mu'izz al-Din as the ruler of Ghazni.[3] Two years later, he seized Herat and Pushang from its Seljuq governor, Baha al-Din Toghril. Shortly thereafter, the ruler of Sistan, Taj al-Din Harb ibn Muhammad, acknowledged the sovereignty of Ghiyath, and so did the Oghuz Turks controlling Kirman.[5]

During the same period, the Khwarazmian prince Sultan Shah, who had been expelled from Khwarezm by his brother Tekish, took refuge in Ghor and requested military aid from Ghiyath. Ghiyath, however, did not help the latter. Instead, Sultan Shah managed to get help from the Kara-Khitan Khanate, and began plundering the northern Ghurid domains. In 1186, Ghiyath, along with Mu'izz al-Din, dissolved the Ghaznavid dynasty after having captured Lahore, where they had the Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau-Malik executed.[3][6] With the aid of the rulers of Bamiyan, Sistan, and his brother Mu'izz al-Din, Ghiyath then defeated the forces of Sultan Shah at Marw al-Rudh in 1190. He also annexed most of the latter's territories in Khorasan. Shortly after war broke out between the Khwarazmian Shahs and the Ghurids; Tekish attacked Herat while the Kara-Khitans invaded Guzgan. Both, were, however, defeated by Ghiyath.

In 1200, Tekish died and was succeeded by Muhammad Khan (who took the honorific name 'Ala' al-Din). Among the first to hear of this were Ghiyath and Mu'izz al-Din. Within weeks the two brothers had already moved their armies westwards into Khorasan. Once they had captured Nishapur, Mu'izz al-Din was sent on an expedition towards Ray, but he let his troops get out of control and got little further than Gurgan, earning criticism from Ghiyath which led to the only reported quarrel between the brothers.[7][8] Ghiyath appointed the son of Fakhr al-Din Masud, Taj al-Din Zangi, as the governor of Sarakhs, while another Ghurid named Nasir al-Din Muhammad Kharnak was appointed as governor of Merv.

He was succeeded by his brother Mu'izz al-Din, who had quickly returned to Ghor from India and obtained the support of Ghurid nobles. They crowned him as Sultan of the Ghurid Empire at Firuzkuh.

• C. Edmund, Bosworth (2001). "GHURIDS". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
• Bosworth, C. E. (1968). "The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000–1217)". In Frye, R. N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5: The Saljuq and Mongol periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–202. ISBN 978-0-521-06936-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• G̲h̲ūrids. Leiden and New York: BRILL. 2012. ISBN 9789004161214.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)