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{{Short description|Grand Vizier (Prime minister) of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-suffix = [[Khan (title)|Khan]]
|name = Abu'l-Hasan
|image = Portrait of Asaf Khan.jpg
|caption = Portrait of Asaf Khan
|office1 = [[Grand Vizier]] of the [[Mughal Empire]]
|monarch1 = [[Shah Jahan]]
|office2 = [[Vakil of the Mughal Empire]]
|monarch2 = [[Jahangir]]
|term_start1= 1628
|term_end1 = 12 June 1641
|term_start2= 1611
|term_end2 = 1627
|spouse = Diwanji Begum
|father = [[Mirza Ghiyas Beg]]
|mother = [[Asmat Begam]]
|children = [[Mumtaz Mahal]] [[Shaista Khan]] Malika Banu Begum Parwar Khanam Farzana Begum
|birth_date = {{circa}} 1569
|birth_name = Abu'l-Hasan
|birth_place = [[Safavid Iran]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1641|6|12|1569|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Bundi]], [[Mughal Empire|Mughal India]]
|resting_place = [[Tomb of Asif Khan]], [[Lahore]]
|relatives = Mohammad-Sharif (brother) [[Ibrahim Khan Fath-i-Jang]] (brother) E'teqad Khan (brother) [[Nur Jahan]] (sister) [[Jahangir]] (brother-in-law) [[Shah Jahan]] (son-in-law)
}}
'''Abu'l-Hasan'''<ref name="Banks Findly 1993 39">{{harvnb|Banks Findly|1993|p=39}}</ref> ({{circa}} 1569 - 12 June 1641) entitled by the Mughal emperor [[Jahangir]] as '''Asaf Khan''', was the ''[[Grand Vizier]]'' (Prime minister) of the fifth Mughal emperor [[Shah Jahan]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pletcher|first1=edited by Kenneth|title=The History of India|date=2011|publisher=Britannica Educational Pub.|location=Chicago|isbn=9781615302017|page=179|edition=1st}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hansen|first1=Waldemar|title=The peacock throne : the drama of Mogul India.|date=1972|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|isbn=9788120802254|page=87|edition=1. Indian ed., repr.}}</ref> He previously served as the ''[[Vakil of Mughal Empire|vakil]]'' (the highest Mughal administrative office) of Jahangir.<ref name="Ruggles" /> Asaf Khan is perhaps best known for being the father of Arjumand Banu Begum (better known by her title [[Mumtaz Mahal]]), the chief consort of Shah Jahan and the older brother of Empress [[Nur Jahan]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kinra|first1=Rajeev|title=Writing Self, Writing Empire: Chandar Bhan Brahman and the Cultural World of the Indo-Persian State Secretary|date=2015|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=9780520286467|page=30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbQwDwAAQBAJ&q=asaf+khan+died+1641&pg=PA30|language=en}}</ref> the chief consort of Jahangir.

==Family==
Asaf Khan was the son of the [[Persians|Persian]] noble [[Mirza Ghias Beg]] (popularly known by his title of Itimad-ud-Daulah),{{sfn|Tillotson|2012|p=194}} who served as the Prime minister of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Ghiyas Beg was a native of [[Tehran]], and was the youngest son of [[Khvajeh Mohammad-Sharif]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Prasad|first1=Ram Chandra|title=Early English Travellers in India: A Study in the Travel Literature of the Elizabethan and Jacobean Periods with Particular Reference to India|date=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=9788120824652|page=96|language=en}}</ref> a poet and [[vizier]] of Mohammad Khan Tekkelu and his son Tatar Soltan, who was the governor of the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid]] province of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]]. Asaf Khan's mother, [[Asmat Begam]], was the daughter of Mirza Ala-ud-Daula Aqa Mulla.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shujauddin|first1=Mohammad|last2=Shujauddin|first2=Razia|title=The Life and Times of Noor Jahan|date=1967|publisher=Caravan Book House|page=1|language=en}}</ref>

Both of Asaf Khan's parents were descendants of illustrious families – Ghias Beg from Muhammad Sharif and Asmat Begam from the Aqa Mulla clan.<ref name="Banks Findly 1993 9">{{harvnb|Banks Findly|1993|p=9}}</ref> Asaf Khan's family had come to [[India]] impoverished in 1577, when his father, Mirza Ghias Beg, was taken into the service of Emperor [[Akbar]] in [[Agra]].<ref name="Thackeray">{{cite book|last1=Thackeray|first1=Frank W.|last2=editors|first2=John E. Findling|title=Events that formed the modern world : from the European Renaissance through the War on Terror|date=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=9781598849011|page=254}}</ref>

==Marriage==
In his prime youth, Asaf Khan was married to Diwanji Begum, the daughter of a [[Persian people|Persian]] noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of [[Qazvin]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan|date=1998|volume=35|page=53|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xbZGAAAAMAAJ&q=diwanji|access-date=12 September 2017|publisher=Research Society of Pakistan|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ahmad|first1=Moin-ud-din|title=The Taj and Its Environments: With 8 Illus. from Photos., 1 Map, and 4 Plans|date=1924|publisher=R. G. Bansal|page=101|language=en}}</ref> The couple had at least five children together: Arjumand Banu Begum (later known as Mumtaz Mahal), Malika Banu Begum,<ref name="Sarker07">{{cite book|last1=Sarker|first1=Kobita|title=Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth : the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals|date=2007|publisher=K.P. Bagchi & Co.|location=Kolkata|isbn=9788170743002|page=77|edition=1. publ.}}</ref> Parwar Khanam, Farzana Begum,<ref name="Sarker07" /> and a son, [[Shaista Khan]].

Arjumand was married to Jahangir's third son, Prince Khurram (later known as Shah Jahan) in 1612 and became his most beloved wife. Parwar Khanam was married to Mohtashim Khan, the son of Jahangir's foster brother [[Qutubuddin Koka]].

== Governor of Lahore ==
[[File:Asaf khan Presents Offerings.jpg|thumb|left|Asif Khan presents offerings<ref>{{cite web|last=unknown |url=http://warfare.ml/Moghul/17thC/Moghul_17thC.htm |title=Asaf khan Presents Offerings. Folio from the Davis Album |date=1604 |work=17th Century Mughals & Marathas |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203021235/http://warfare.ml/Moghul/17thC/Moghul_17thC.htm |archive-date=2013-12-03 }}</ref>]]
Mirza Abul Hasan Asaf Khan was appointed Governor of [[Lahore]] by Emperor Jahangir in 1625. After the demise of Jahangir in 1627, he was instrumental in securing the accession of his son-in-law Shah Jahan by colluding with Dawar Bakht (Jahangir's other son) and defeating the acting emperor Prince Shahryar (Nur Jahan's son-in-law, married to her daughter by her previous marriage to [[Sher Afgan]]) in a battle near Lahore. Asaf Khan enjoyed a position even more elevated than in the preceding reign and retained it until 1632, when he failed in the siege of Bijapur, from which time he seems to have lost favour.

==Positions==
* Grand Vizier (Wazir-e-Azam of the Mughal Empire) – (1628–41)
* Subehdar of Lahore (1625–27)
* Subehdar of Gujrat Subah (1630–39)
* Faujdar of Gagron (Malwa Subah) – (1635–41)

==Death and burial place==
[[File:Asif Khan Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|[[Tomb of Asif Khan]] in Lahore]]
Asaf Khan died on 12 June 1641 while engaged in fighting against the forces of rebel [[Raja Jagat Singh]] [[Pathania]]. Asaf Khan left an immense fortune, in spite of the quarter of a million sterling that his palace at [[Lahore]] cost him.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of India : in nine volumes.|date=2008|publisher=Cosimo Inc.|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=978-1605204963|page=100}}</ref> His [[Tomb of Asif Khan|tomb]] was built in [[Shahdara Bagh]], Lahore, as per Shah Jahan's orders. It lies west of the [[Tomb of Nur Jahan]] and adjacent to the [[Tomb of Jahangir]].<ref name="Ruggles">{{cite book |last=Ruggles |first=D. Fairchild |authorlink=D. Fairchild Ruggles |title=Islamic gardens and landscapes|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicgardensla0000rugg |url-access=registration |date=2008|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-0812207286|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicgardensla0000rugg/page/198 198]}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Safdarjung]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Banks Findly|first=Ellison|date=11 February 1993|title=Nur Jahan: Empress of Mughal India|location=Oxford, UK|publisher=Nur Jahan : Empress of Mughal India|isbn=9780195074888}}
*{{cite book | last=Tillotson | first=Giles | year=2012 | title=Taj Mahal | publisher=Harvard University Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHEHNSTNnRQC | isbn=978-0-674-06365-5}}

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Abdul Hasan Asaf Khan}}
* {{EI3|last=Lefèvre|first=Corinne|title=Āṣaf Khān|year=2008|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/asaf-khan-COM_26356?s.num=4&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-3&s.q=Khan}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060612232838/http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.tcl?site_id=3985 History of Asaf Khan]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abul-Hasan Asaf Khan}}
[[Category:1641 deaths]]
[[Category:Mughal nobility]]
[[Category:Iranian emigrants to the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:1569 births]]
[[Category:17th-century Iranian people]]
[[Category:16th-century Iranian people]]
[[Category:Grand viziers of the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:Subahdars of Lahore]]

Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan - Revision history

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Serzccd: Enhanced article with new information

176.216.69.223 at 12:07, 1 September 2021