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{{short description|16th century general in Western India}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Khoja Zufar or Coge Cofar
| image = Coge Çofar (14782344374).jpg
| caption = Drawing from 1520–1790
| nickname = Khoje Cofar or Coge Cofar
| birth_date = {{birth year|1500}}
| birth_place = [[Otranto]], [[Apulia]], [[Kingdom of Naples]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1546|06|24|1500|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Diu, India]]
| allegiance = [[Ottoman Empire]]
| serviceyears = 1515–1546
| rank = General
| commands = Ottoman naval forces
| battles = {{Tree list}}
* [[Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts]]
** [[Battle of al-Shihr (1531)]]
** [[Siege of Diu (1531)]]
** [[Siege of Diu (1538)]]
** [[Siege of Diu (1546)]]{{KIA}}
{{Tree list/end}}
| awards = Governor of Diu
| relations = Friend of [[Garcia de Orta]]
}}

'''Khoja Zufar''' or '''Coje Çafar''' (1500 – 24 June 1546 - probably born a few years before 1500<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yamey |first=Adam |title=An Albanian in India: The Life and Adventures of Khwaja Safar |date=2024 |publisher=Adam Yamey |isbn=9798328834513 |location=UK |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref>), also called '''Coge Sofar''', or '''Safar Aga'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mubārak |first1=Abū al-Faḍl Ibn |title=The Akbar Nāmā of Abu-l-Fazl: (History of the Reign of Akbar Including an Account of His Predecessors) |date=1977 |publisher=Ess Ess Publications |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXFDAAAAYAAJ&q=Khwaja+Safar+ |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref> in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], '''Cosa Zaffar''' in [[Italian language|Italian]], and also as '''Khwaja Safar Salmani''' or '''Khuádja Tzaffar''' ('''خوجا زفار'''),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orta |first1=García da |title=Coloquios dos simples e drogas da India |date=2014 |publisher=Editorial Maxtor |isbn=9788490014516 |page=286 |edition=Translation: seria Khuádja Tzaffar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCOlBAAAQBAJ&q=Khu%C3%A1dja+Tzaffar&pg=PA286 |access-date=7 November 2019 |language=pt}}</ref> was a soldier and local ruler in [[Western India]] during the 16th century. He was a leader in the failed [[Siege of Diu (1538)|Siege of Diu]]. Zufar was an experienced merchant with the distant markets of the Arabian Gulf around the Strait of Mecca and Lepanto at the [[Mediterranean]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mathew |first1=K. S. |title=Khwaja Safar, the Merchant Governor of Surat and the Indo-Portuguese Trade in the Early Sixteenth Century |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |date=1982 |volume=43 |pages=232–242 |jstor=44141233 }}</ref>

== Name ==

For centuries, his name has been given in different forms, depending on whether the writer is English, an Ottoman Turk, or Portuguese.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Markotić |first1=Vladimir |title=Symposium: Emigrants from Croatia and their Achievements |date=1987 |publisher=Western Publischers |isbn=978-0-919119-12-3 |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ItN5AAAAMAAJ&q=Coje+Zofar |access-date=1 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref> The variations of his name include Khoja Zufar,<ref>{{cite book |title=Ta-ssi-yang-kuo ...: Archivos e annaes do Extremo-Oriente portuguez, colligidos ... |date=1902 |page=376 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8A7AQAAMAAJ&q=Khoja+Zufar |language=pt}}</ref> Coje Çafar,<ref>{{cite web |title=Drawing of Coge Cofar |url=http://tribop.pt/ARG/1899-HP/04/HP4-217.jpg}}</ref> Coge Sofar,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Welch |first1=Sidney R. |title=South Africa Under John III, 1521-1557 |date=1949 |publisher=Juta |page=120 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxdXAAAAMAAJ&q=Coge+sofar |language=en}}</ref> and Khojah Zaffar. [[Nasir ud din Muhammad Shah III|Muhammad III of Gujarat]] had forced him to change his Christian name to "Khwaja". He was later known as Khudawand Khan Safar Salmani.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chase |first1=Kenneth |last2=Chase |first2=Kenneth Warren |title=Firearms: A Global History to 1700 |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521822749 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esnWJkYRCJ4C&q=Albanians+in+the+Portuguese+ships&pg=PA136 |language=en}}</ref>

== Early life==
Zufar was born in [[Otranto]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cagle |first1=Hugh |title=Assembling the Tropics: Science and Medicine in Portugal's Empire, 1450–1700 |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107196636 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3lnDwAAQBAJ&q=Assembling+the+Tropics+Science+and+Medicine+in+Portugal%27s+Empire,+1450–1700+Coge+Çofar&pg=PA355 |language=en}}</ref> into an [[Albanians|Albanian]] family.<ref>{{cite book |location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press |title=The Project Gutenberg e-Book of Rulers of India: Albuquerque|first=H. Morse |last=Stephens |page=315 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31226/31226-h/31226-h.htm#page186}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Heritage History {{!}} Albuquerque: Rulers of India by Morse Stephens |url=https://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c=read&author=stephens&book=albuquerque&story=successors1 |website=www.heritage-history.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Yamey |first1=Adam |title=Travels Through Gujarat, Daman, and Diu |date=2019 |isbn=9780244407988 |page=160 |publisher=Lulu.com |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AyLDwAAQBAJ&q=Khadjar+Safar&pg=PA160 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Yamey |first1=Adam |title=Travels Through Gujarat, Daman, and Diu |date=2019 |isbn=9780244407988 |page=160 |publisher=Lulu.com |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AyLDwAAQBAJ&q=Muharram+Rumi+Khan&pg=PA160 |language=en}}</ref> His mother was from [[Brindisi]]. He was born to [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Albanians|Albanian]] parents in Otranto in the [[Kingdom of Naples]] in modern-day [[Italy]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rajamanickam |first1=G. Victor |last2=Subbarayalu |first2=Y. |last3=Kal̲akam |first3=Tañcai Tamil̲p Palkalaik |title=History of traditional navigation |date=1988 |publisher=Tamil University |isbn=978-81-7090-122-8 |page=137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6IEAQAAIAAJ&q=Khwaja+Safar |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chalmers |first1=Alexander |title=English Translations: From Ancient and Modern Poems |date=1810 |publisher=Johnson |page=565 |edition=This officer was by birth an Albanese of catholic parents and had served in the wars in Italy and Flanders Having commenced merchant he was taken at sea by the Turks and carried to Constantinople from whence he went to Cambaya where he embraced Mohammedism and became the prime minister and favourite of king Badur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3NHAQAAMAAJ&q=Achemet+Turco+Albanese&pg=PA565 |access-date=1 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

He began his career as a military adventurer, serving in the armies of [[Italy]] and [[Flanders]], and was captured at sea at the age of fifteen by an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] general
[[Selim I]]. The Ottoman [[sultan]] was impressed by the young Zufar and sent him to Constantinople where he was put in command of several vessels to attack the Portuguese.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Markotić |first1=Vladimir |title=Symposium: Emigrants from Croatia and their Achievements |date=1987 |publisher=Western Publischers |isbn=9780919119123 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ItN5AAAAMAAJ&q=Khwaja+Safar |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Livermore |first1=H. V. |last2=Goertz |first2=R. O. W. |title=Iberia: Literary and Historical Issues : Studies in Honour of Harold V. Livermore |date=1985 |publisher=Canada |isbn=9780919813144 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDgoAQAAIAAJ&q=Khudawand+Khan+Safar+Salmani |language=en}}</ref> He was then sent to [[Khambhat|Cambaya (Khambhat)]] where he became good friends with King [[Bahadur Shah of Gujarat]].<ref>Alexander Chalmers, 1810, p. 565</ref> He was also the captain of the king.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mookerji |first1=Radhakumud |title=Indian shipping: a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times |date=1912 |publisher=Longmans, Green and co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.104209/page/n253 201] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.104209 |access-date=1 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Around 1527, Khoja Zufar took refuge in Diu, where he was met with great respect, and with him he had 300 000 "cruzados" and 600 Turkish soldiers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Purabhilekh-puratatva: Journal of the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museum, Panaji-Goa |date=1991 |publisher=The Directorate |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_I_lAAAAMAAJ&q=Khwaja+Safar+ |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Drawing of Coge Cofar (Khoja Zafar) from 1798.jpg|thumb|"Portuguese drawing of Khoja Zufar (Coge Cofar) from 1798"]]

== War with the Portuguese ==
In February 1531, Khoja Zufar and Ottoman Admiral Mustafa entered the harbor of [[Diu, India|Diu]], a Portuguese island fortress on the coast of the [[Gujarat Sultanate]] in what is now [[Western India]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Mughal India According to European Travel Accounts: Texts and Studies |date=1997 |publisher=Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dw3kZAS8w_YC&q=Safar+Salmani |language=en}}</ref> In 1532, Zufar established himself in [[Gujarat]], and obtained privileges in [[Surat]] and [[Diu, India|Diu]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Subrahmanyam |first1=Sanjay |title=The Portuguese empire in Asia, 1500-1700: a political and economic history |date=1993 |publisher=Longman |isbn=9780582050693 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhwOAQAAMAAJ&q=Safar-us-Salmani+Khwaja |language=en}}</ref> becoming the general of the [[Muslim]] forces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bouterwek |first1=Friedrich |title=Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit seit dem Ende des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts: Introduction (40 p.) Italy |date=1805 |publisher=J.F. Röwer |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_6j8PAAAAIAAJ/page/n352 331] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_6j8PAAAAIAAJ |quote=Coge-Sofar. |language=de}}</ref> Here he was known as "Khoja Sofar of Surat". He initially cooperated with the Portuguese who put him in charge of Diu,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beirão |first1=Caetano |title=A Short History of Portugal |date=1960 |publisher=Edic̜ões Panorama |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Xo6EciQi5EC&q=Coge+sofar |language=en}}</ref> but when he heard of [[Hadım Suleiman Pasha]]'s [[Ottoman naval expeditions in the Indian Ocean#Expedition by Hadim Suleiman Pasha, 1538|naval expedition]], he betrayed the Portuguese and joined Suleiman.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the British Empire |date=1940 |publisher=CUP Archive |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-08AAAAIAAJ&q=Khudawand+Khan+Safar+Salmani&pg=PA671 |language=en}}</ref> Among the sailors of Suleiman were many of Venetian origin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Camões |first1=Luís Vaz |title=The Lusiad;: Or the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem |date=1776 |edition=Seventy large veffels well fupplied with cannon and all military stores under the command of Solyman Bashaw of Cairo failed from the port of Suez to extirpate the Portuguese from India The feamen were of different nations many of them Venetian galleyflaves taken in war all of them trained failors and 7ooo Janifaries were deftined to aćt on fhore Some Portuguese Rene gados dos were also in the fleet and Coje Zofar who had hitherto been the friend of Nunio with a party of Cambayans joined Solyman The hoftile operations began with the feige of Dio |url=https://archive.org/details/lusiadordiscover00camuoft |language=en}}</ref> Prior to Zufar's change of allies, he had been very offended by Suleiman Pasha's arrogance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beveridge |first1=Henry |title=A Comprehensive History of India, Civil, Military, and Social, from the First Landing of the English, to the Suppression of the Sepoy Revolt: Including an Outline of the Early History of Hindoostan |date=1867 |publisher=Blackie and Son |page=1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TepNAAAAMAAJ&q=Khojah+Zofar&pg=PA191 |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

== Zufar meeting Nuno da Cunha and Antonio da Silveira ==
On February 1537, When [[Bahadur Shah of Gujarat]] was killed on his ship by the Portuguese, led by [[Nuno da Cunha]], Zufar abandoned ship and swam ashore where he was well met by the Portuguese, who massacred the rest of Bahadurs crew. Cunha was so impressed by Zufar that he recommended him to Portuguese commander Antonio da Silveira de Menezes. Khoja then fled to King Mahmud of Cambaya, where Khoja was instructed to once again fight the Portuguese, with the help of the Ottoman fleet which was on its way. Khoja then appeared in front of the city of Rums, near Diu, where he was wounded in the arm. Zufar was aided by the local kings which resulted in Silveira ordering his men to abandon the town and instead fortify the port. When the Ottoman fleet arrived, Silveira sent letter to Nunho asking for help.<ref>{{cite book |title=A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels ... in Europe, Asia, Africa and America ..., Also the Manners and Customs of the Several Inhabitants ...: Consisting of the Most Esteemed Relations, which Have Been Hitherto Published in Any Language, ... |date=1745 |publisher=Thomas Astley |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9e1aAAAAcAAJ&q=Khojah+Zofar&pg=PA103 |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

== Suleiman Pasha's fleet ==

In 1537, the Portuguese sent a fleet to attack Diu, which was defended by Zufar's land forces. Suleiman witnessed the preparations:
{{Verse translation|lang=pt|... venne un chiamato il Cosa Zaffer, il quale é da Otranto, ma renegato, et fatto turcho, et era patrone di una galea quando il Signore Turcho mandó l'altra armata ...<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCOlBAAAQBAJ&q=venne+un+chiamato+il+Cosa+Zaffer+suleiman&pg=PA286|page=286|title=Coloquios dos simples e drogas da India|volume=1|author=Garcia de Orta|author-link=Garcia de Orta|editor=Francisco Manuel de Melo Ficalho|publisher=Impresna Nacional|language=pt|year=1891|isbn=9788490014516}}</ref>|... there came a lad called the Khoja Zuffar, who is from Otranto, but a renegade, and made Turk, and was the patron of a galley when the Sultan sent the other army ...<ref>{{cite book |title=Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India, et in Costantinopoli: con la descrittione particolare di città, luoghi, siti, costumi, & della Porta del gran Turco: & di tutte le intrate, spese, & modo di gouerno suo, & della ultima impresa contra portoghesi |date=1545 |publisher=eredi di Aldo Manuzio 1. |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXgtc7oeyC0C&q=quale+%C3%A9+da+Otranto,+ma+renegato,+et+fatto+turcho,+et+era+patrone+di+una+galea+quando+il+Signore+Turcho+mand%C3%B3+laltra+amrata&pg=PA149 |access-date=6 November 2019 |language=it}}</ref>}}

In 1537, Sultan Bahadur and Khoja Zufar agreed to meet with the Portuguese governor [[Nuno da Cunha]] in Diu, on his ship and despite being warned, Bahadur was murdered and his body thrown into the ocean, while Zufar barely escaped onto the ship of Antonio de Soto-Maior.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Michael Naylor |title=Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century |date=1976 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520028098 |page=[https://archive.org/details/merchantsrulersi0000pear/page/78 78] |url=https://archive.org/details/merchantsrulersi0000pear |url-access=registration |quote=Khwaja Safar. |access-date=6 November 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Determined to avenge himself, Zufar wrote to his relative Nacoda Hamede, the ruler of Zebit, to send the Ottoman army to India, to which the Sultan approved.<ref>Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 1500-1573, Kuzhippalli Skaria Mathew, p. 44-46,</ref> According to Portuguese author Luís Vaz Camões letters published in 1776, Zufar and Nunio had been serving together in service of the Portuguese, but Zufar, with a party of locals of Cambaya, switched side and joined Hadim Suleiman Pasha.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Camões |first1=Luís Vaz |title=The Lusiad;: Or the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem |date=1776 |url=https://archive.org/details/lusiadordiscover00camo |access-date=1 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

In April 1538, Zufar, having received news of the Portuguese fleet preparing for war, secretly sent his wife and children to safety. He then presented himself before the new sultan, [[Mahmud Shah III of Gujarat|Mahmud III]], who made him governor of Surat with the title of Khudawand Khan. Zufar then made an attack on the outer fort of Diu, driving the Portuguese into the city, and initiating the [[Siege of Diu (1538)|Siege of Diu]] which was made possible thanks to Zufar's close friend Ruy Freire, a Portuguese who collected information.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mathew |first1=Kuzhippalli Skaria |title=Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 1500-1573 |date=1986 |publisher=Mittal Publications |page=138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dRmvGS5MYcC&q=Khwaja+Safar&pg=PA138 |access-date=6 November 2019 |language=en}}</ref> In June 1538, Zufar was wounded<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jaques |first1=Tony |title=Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E |date=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313335372 |page=304 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3amnMPTPP5MC&q=Khadjar+Safar&pg=PA304 |language=en}}</ref> by the Portuguese,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Almeida |first1=Fortunato de |title=História de Portugal |date=1923 |publisher=F. de Almeida |page=316 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_dWAAAAMAAJ&q=Coge-Sofar |language=pt}}</ref> and attacked again on June 26 with 4,000 men outside the village of Rome.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Welch |first1=Sidney R. |title=South Africa Under John III, 1521-1557 |date=1949 |publisher=Juta |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxdXAAAAMAAJ&q=Coge-Sofar |language=en}}</ref>

Throughout his reign as a governor, Zufar had urged the Muslim leader of Gujarat to expel the Portuguese,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Welch |first1=Sidney R. |title=South Africa Under John III, 1521-1557 |date=1949 |publisher=Juta |page=125 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxdXAAAAMAAJ&q=Coge-Sofar+Albanian |language=en}}</ref> who had taken possession of Surat Port and robbed the city at the beginning of the century.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} The following quote is attributed to him, as part of a speech to his men about the Portuguese:
{{Verse translation|lang=pt|Que temos que recear deste Império de loucos, que com um braço na Ásia e outro no Ocidente, querem abarcar o Mundo?|What do we have to fear from this Empire of mad-men, who with one arm in Asia and the other in the West want to embrace the world?<ref>{{cite book |title=Recueil de morceux en prose: extraits del meilleurs auteurs français et portugais; tels que Fénélon, Lesage, Florian, Berquin, Jean de Barros, Freire de Andrada, etc, etc.; précédé d'un choix d'anecdotes, de bons mots et de pensées diverses. En français et en portugais (What do we have to fear from this Empire of madmen, who with one arm in Asia and the other in the West want to embrace the World? |date=1818 |publisher=chez Théophile Barrois fils, libraire, quai Voltaire, no. 11 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGro7d8G5RoC&q=Que+temos+que+recear+deste+Império+de+loucos,+que+com+um+braço+na+Ásia+e+outro+no+Ocidente,+querem+abarcar+o+Mundo&pg=PA168 |language=fr}}</ref>}}

Delayed by other conflicts, Suleiman arrived with a fleet of 72 vessels, and told his men of a certain "Cosazaffer who originally came from Otranto and was a renegade for Islam".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ulughkhānī |first1=ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar |last2=Ross |first2=E. Denison (Edward Denison) |title=An Arabic history of Gujarat; Zafar ul-wálih bi Muzaffar wa ālih; by ʻAbdallah Mu.hammad bin ʻOmar Al-Makkí, Al-Āsafí |date=1910 |publisher=London, John Murray |page=37 |url=https://archive.org/stream/arabichistoryofg00ulug/arabichistoryofg00ulug_djvu.txt}}</ref>
In 1540, to resist the attacks of the Portuguese, Zufar constructed a strong, high, and large fort in the place of the small old fort.<ref>{{cite web |title=NRI Division {{!}} About Gujarat {{!}} History of Gujarat {{!}} Surat |url=https://nri.gujarat.gov.in/his-surat-1.htm |website=nri.gujarat.gov.in |access-date=2019-04-07 |archive-date=2019-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407055647/https://nri.gujarat.gov.in/his-surat-1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Portuguese protested against the decision.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=M. N. |title=The Portuguese in India |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-02850-9 |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XLPnkqwzDYC&q=Khwaja+Safar+Surat&pg=PA38 |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Zufar had a personal relationship with [[Garcia de Orta]] as he would receive gifts of [[Lathyrus sativus|curcas (cataputia minor)]], from Zufar.<ref>{{cite book |title=Coloquio S Dos Simple S E Arci A D Ort A Droga S D A Índi A |date=1891 |publisher=Ediçã O Publicad A |location=Lisabon |page=285 |edition=It is interesting that we come to meet Coge Çofar, the great enemy of the Portuguese, the instigator and soul of Diu's sieges, sending gifts of curcas to Garcia da Orta, and teaching him their name in Cairo. |url=http://obrasraras.sibi.usp.br/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/1956/S-263704-1-1_ORTA_Coloquios_dos_simples_e_drogas_da_India_1891.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=7 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Azzam |first1=Abdul Rahman |title=The Other Exile: The Remarkable Story of Fernão Lopes, the Island of St Helena and the meaning of human solitude |date=2017 |publisher=Icon Books Limited |isbn=9781785781841 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kv6hDQAAQBAJ&q=Cogeatar+portuguese&pg=PT84 |language=en}}</ref> In 1542, a ship filled with 60,000 pieces of Venetian gold was sent to Zufar, to prepare for the incoming fleet.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yule |first1=Henry |last2=Burnell |first2=Arthur Coke |title=Hobson-Jobson: The Anglo-Indian Dictionary |date=1996 |publisher=Wordsworth Editions |isbn=9781853263637 |page=946 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcjmiBm8hHQC&q=Coje+Cafar&pg=PA964 |language=en}}</ref> In 1545, Zufar attempted another siege of Diu<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of the British Empire |date=1940 |publisher=CUP Archive |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-08AAAAIAAJ&q=Khudawand+Khan+Safar+Salmani&pg=PA671 |language=en}}</ref> and failed.

In 1546, Zufar complained that his merchant vessels were harassed by the Portuguese [[cartaz]] which resulted in skirmishes with the Portuguese fleets. The Sultan, determined to retake Diu, applied for support from Indo-Islamic states.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ghosh |first1=Shounak |title=Unraveling the Strands of Diplomacy in the Contest for Coastal Gujarat in the Sixteenth Century |location=Vanderbilt University |page=37 |url=https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/collegeofhumanities/history/exhistoria/volume9/Ghosh_16-48.pdf |access-date=7 November 2019}}</ref>

In 1546, Zufar fortified his base at Surat<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chokshi |first1=U. M. |last2=Trivedi |first2=M. R. |title=Gujarat State Gazetteer |date=1991 |publisher=Director, Government Print., Stationery and Publications, Gujarat State |page=603 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKLiAAAAMAAJ&q=Khwaja+Safar |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref> and persuaded the sultan of Gujarat to once again attack Diu.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stephens |first1=H. Morse |title=Albuquerque |date=2000 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=9788120615243 |page=186 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4RDjvtqc28UC&q=Coge+Cofar+Albanian&pg=PA186 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Alam |first1=Muzaffar |last2=Subrahmanyam |first2=Sanjay |title=Writing the Mughal World: Studies on Culture and Politics |date=2012 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231158114 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mmLOKuzT-IC&q=Khwaja+Safar&pg=PA72 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Feio Doutoramento em História |first1=Gonçalo Couceiro |title=O ensino e a aprendizagem militares em Portugal e no Império, de D. João III a D. Sebastião: a arte portuguesa da guerra. |date=2013 |publisher=Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Letras |location=História dos Descobrimentos e da Expansão |page=116 |url=http://repositorio.ul.pt/bitstream/10451/10965/1/ulsd068126_td_Goncalo_Feio.pdf}}</ref> In March, 1546, Zufar appeared in front of Diu with 7,000 "guzatteres" and 1,000 Turks in order to take it from the Portuguese.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mughal India According to European Travel Accounts: Texts and Studies |date=1997 |publisher=Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4n4bM5kqf2kC&q=khwaja |language=en}}</ref><ref>Saturnino Monteiro (2010): Portuguese Sea Battles - Volume I - The First World Sea Power 1139-1521 p.223</ref> Their leader, Dom Joao Mascarenhas, defended the city as did his predecessor Antonio da Silveira. Portuguese women participated in the defence as well.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stephens |first1=H. Morse |title=Albuquerque |date=2000 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=9788120615243 |page=186 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4RDjvtqc28UC&q=Khojah+Atar&pg=PA213 |language=en}}</ref> The sieges failed and Suleiman departed on November 5. Zufar then set fire to his encampment and abandoned the island of Diu.

According to Diogo do Cuoto, the keeper of the Portuguese Record Office in Goa, throughout the 1540s, Zufar received letters every year from his mother, a Catholic, who was much upset that Zufar had converted to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mathew |first1=Kuzhippalli Skaria |title=Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 1500-1573 |date=1986 |publisher=Mittal Publications |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dRmvGS5MYcC&q=Khwaja+Safar&pg=PA138 |language=en}}</ref>

== International writings ==
C. K. Goertz wrote that "Safar Salmani was a man of genius and determination, circumspection and foresight, and it was upon these qualities that he advances to [[Bahadur Shah of Gujarat|Bahadur Shah]]'s inner circle. Later, [[Pope Julius III]] would consider him sufficiently important to mention him in his bull "pracclara charissimi" of December 30, 1551.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Markotić |first1=Vladimir |title=Symposium: Emigrants from Croatia and their Achievements |date=1987 |publisher=Western Publischers |isbn=978-0-919119-12-3 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ItN5AAAAMAAJ&q=Khwaja+Safar+Surat |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

== Death ==
Before his death, Zufar had a [[wakil]], a servant, named Bahar Khan Yagut Salmani, an Ottoman slave, who also accompanied him during the Siege of Diu. On June 24, 1546, while supervising the trenches, Zufar's head was taken off by a cannonball fired from the Portuguese in the fort of [[Diu, India|Diu]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Reflective Approach on Last Phase of Portuguese Diu Besieged By The Sultan of Gujarar, 1539–1548|page=134 |edition=Chapter VII |url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/75942/11/11_chapter%207.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Indica |date=1986 |publisher=Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St. Xavier's College. |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GghDAAAAYAAJ&q=Safar |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Alam |first1=Muzaffar |last2=Subrahmanyam |first2=Sanjay |title=Writing the Mughal World: Studies on Culture and Politics |date=2012 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231158114 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mmLOKuzT-IC&q=Safar-us-Salmani+Khwaja&pg=PA510 |language=en}}</ref> One of Zufar's men, Bilal Khairit Khani Habashi, was killed as well.<ref>https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144517428.pdf, p. 159</ref> His son, Ramazan Rumi Khan, inherited the title and ruled [[Surat]] in 1554.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Corrêa |first1=Gaspar |title=Lendas da India: Que conta dos feitos de Pero Mascarenhas, e Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, e Nuno da Cunha : em que se passara︣o 17 annos. Livro terceiro |date=1863 |publisher=Academia Real das Sciencias |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIZTAAAAcAAJ&q=albanes |language=pt}}</ref>

== Tomb ==
His tomb in Surat was attended to in 1933-34 and restored.<ref>{{cite book |title=Annual Report |date=1930 |publisher=Swati Publications |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXJNLtSv-BoC&q=Khwaja+Safar+ |access-date=2 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Gujarati-Portuguese conflicts]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zufar, Khoja}}
[[Category:Indian people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Indian people of Albanian descent]]

[[Category:Albanian people from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Ottoman military personnel killed in action]]
[[Category:Italian pirates]]
[[Category:1546 deaths]]

Khoja Zufar - Revision history

OlivaGabel6 at 11:37, 1 February 2026