JestineLegg9 at 18:28, 11 April 2025

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{{Short description|Governor of North-West Bengal}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Ali Sher Khalji
|office = Governor of Northwest [[Bengal]]
|term = 1221-1227
|monarch = [[Iwaz Khalji]]
| birth_date = {{Circa|1180}}
| death_date = {{Circa|1227}}
|father = [[Iwaz Khalji]]
|children = [[Malik Balkha Khalji]]
|relatives = [[Khalji dynasty of Bengal|Khalji dynasty]]
|module = {{Infobox religious biography
|embed = yes
|religion = [[Islam]]
|denomination = [[Sunni]]
|jurisprudence = [[Hanafi]]}}}}{{History of Bengal}}{{History of Bangladesh}}
'''ʿAlī Sher bin ʿIwaz Khaljī''' ({{langx|bn|আলী শের খলজী}}, {{langx|fa|علی شیر بن عوض خلجی}}; fl. 1221) was a former governor of northwest [[Bengal]] ([[Birbhum]]) serving under his father,<ref>{{cite book|pages=181–183|title=Pakistan Archaeology|year=1991|publisher=Department of Archaeology, Pakistan}}</ref> Sultan [[Iwaz Khalji|Iwaz Shah]] of the [[Khalji dynasty of Bengal]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Sufism, Sheikhs and Khanqahs of Bengal|pages=147–148|title=The Varied Facets of History: Essays in Honour of Aniruddha Ray|author=Siddiq, Mohammad Yusuf|editor1=Alam, Ishrat|editor2=Hussain, Syed Ijaz|year=2011}}</ref> His name finds mention in the earliest known stone inscription mentioning a Muslim ruler of Bengal.<ref>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Inscriptions|author=Shanawaz, AKM}}</ref>

==Biography==
Khalji's grandfather Husayn Khalji was an inhabitant of [[Garmsir District|Garmsir]]. The family belonged to the [[Sunni Muslim]] [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]] tribe,<ref name="Siraj-548">{{cite book |author=Minhāju-s Sirāj |year=1881 |title=Tabaḳāt-i-nāsiri: a general history of the Muhammadan dynastics of Asia, including Hindustān, from A.H. 194 (810 A.D.) to A.H. 658 (1260 A.D.) and the irruption of the infidel Mughals into Islām |series=Bibliotheca Indica #78 |publisher=Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (printed by Gilbert & Rivington) |location=Calcutta, India |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_ixTEEz8ssC&pg=548 |page=548 |translator=[[Henry George Raverty]] |access-date=2022-07-20 |archive-date=2021-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930115517/https://books.google.com/books?id=u_ixTEEz8ssC&pg=548 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="EB-Khalji">''the Khiljī tribe had long been settled in what is now Afghanistan ...'' [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9045252/Khalji-Dynasty Khalji Dynasty] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517005459/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9045252/Khalji-Dynasty |date=2008-05-17 }}. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. 2010. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 23 August 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Satish Chandra |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) - Part One |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA41 |year=2004 |publisher=Har-Anand |isbn=978-81-241-1064-5 |page=41 |quote=The Khaljis were a Turkish tribe from southwest Ghur. However, Bakhtiyar was ungainly in appearance... |access-date=2022-07-20 |archive-date=2018-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226051453/https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA41%20 |url-status=live }}</ref> a tribe of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] origin that after migration from [[Turkestan]] had later settled in [[Afghanistan]] for over 200 years.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava |title=The History of India, 1000 A.D.-1707 A.D. |edition=Second |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bdw9AAAAMAAJ |year=1966 |publisher=Shiva Lal Agarwala |oclc=575452554 |page=98 |postscript=:"His ancestors, after having migrated from Turkistan, had lived for over 200 years in the Helmand valley and Lamghan, parts of Afghanistan called Garmasir or the hot region, and had adopted Afghan manners and customs. They were, therefore, wrongly looked upon as Afghans by the Turkish nobles in India as they had intermarried with local Afghans and adopted their customs and manners. They were looked down as non Turks by Turks." |access-date=2022-07-20 |archive-date=2021-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007124818/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bdw9AAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Abraham Eraly |author-link=Abraham Eraly |title=The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyEoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178 |year=2015 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-93-5118-658-8 |page=126 |postscript=:"The prejudice of Turks was however misplaced in this case, for Khaljis were actually ethnic Turks. But they had settled in Afghanistan long before the Turkish rule was established there, and had over the centuries adopted Afghan customs and practices, intermarried with the local people, and were therefore looked down on as non-Turks by pure-bred Turks." |access-date=2022-07-20 |archive-date=2018-12-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225221323/https://books.google.com/books?id=vyEoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178%20 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Radhey Shyam Chaurasia |title=History of medieval India: from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. |year=2002|publisher=Atlantic |isbn=81-269-0123-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC |page=28|postscript=:"The Khaljis were a Turkish tribe but having been long domiciled in Afghanistan, had adopted some Afghan habits and customs. They were treated as Afghans in Delhi Court.}}</ref> Khalji was the son and heir of [[Iwaz Khalji]], a deputy of [[Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji]] who participated in the Muslim conquest of [[Gauḍa (city)|Lakhnauti]] in Bengal. His father served as Bengal's governor twice under the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and also independently ruled as a [[Sultan]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Sarkar |editor-first=Jadunath |editor-link=Jadunath Sarkar |year=1973 |orig-year=First published 1948 |title=The History of Bengal |volume=II: Muslim Period, 1200–1757 |location=Patna |publisher=Academica Asiatica |pages=3, 8 |oclc=924890}}</ref>

Khalji was appointed by his father to be the governor of northwestern Bengal,<ref>{{cite book|title=Politics and Culture: Essays in Honour of Serajul Islam Choudhury|page=343|year=2002|editor=Azim, Firdous|publisher=[[University of Dhaka]]}}</ref> a territory which spanned [[Birbhum district|Birbhum]] and neighbouring areas.<ref name=siddiq>{{cite book|title=Epigraphy and Islamic Culture: Inscriptions of the Early Muslim Rulers of Bengal (1205-1494)|pages=64, 92|author=Siddiq, Mohammad Yusuf|year=2015|isbn=9781317587460|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]}}</ref> In his governorship, a ''[[khanqah]]'' was endowed by Ibn Muhammad of [[Maragheh]] in 7 [[Jumada al-Thani|Jumada al-Akhir]] 618 [[Islamic calendar|AH]] (August 1221) in [[Bolpur Sriniketan|Sian]], [[Suri Sadar subdivision|Suri Sadar]].<ref>{{cite book|page=105|title=Contemporary Relevance of Sufism|isbn=9788185434056|editor=Hameed, Syeda Saiyidain|publisher=[[Indian Council for Cultural Relations]]|year=1992}}</ref> This khanqah now holds the [[mazar (mausoleum)]] of Muslim preacher Makhdum Shah.<ref>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Iranians, The|author=[[Abdul Karim (historian)|Abdul Karim]]}}</ref> Indian epigraphist [[Z. A. Desai]] is of the opinion that Khalji was not merely a governor, but actually a Sultan who was ruling after his father's death. However, most historians reject this unconventional assumption.<ref>{{cite book|language=bn|title=মুসলিম-বাংলার ইতিহাস ও ঐতিহ্য|trans-title=History and heritage of Muslim Bengal|author=[[Abdul Karim (historian)|Abdul Karim]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=মুদ্রায় ও শিলালিপিতে মধ্যযুগের বাংলার সমাজ সংস্কৃতি, 1200-1538 খ্রি|language=bn|page=67|author=Shahnawaz, A. K. Muhammad|year=1999|publisher=[[Bangla Academy]]|isbn=9789840738489|trans-title=Social Culture of Medieval Bengal in Coins and Inscriptions, 1200-1538 CE}}</ref>

Sukhamay Mukherjee equates Ali Sher Khalji with Muizuddin, a name found in another inscription during Iwaz Khalji's reign that refers to him as his son.<ref>{{cite book|title=বাংলায় মুসলিম অধিকারের আদি পর্ব, 1204-1338 খ্রীঃ|language=bn|trans-title=Early phase of Muslim authority in Bengal|author=Mukhopadhyay, Sukhamay|pages=40–44|year=1988|publisher=Sāhityaloka}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[History of Bengal]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Khalji dynasty}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalji, Ali Sher}}
[[Category:Governors of Bengal]]
[[Category:13th-century Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:13th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:People from Helmand Province]]

Ali Sher Khalji - Revision history

JestineLegg9 at 18:28, 11 April 2025