Ahmad Nizam Shah

Ahmad Nizam Shah I
Malik
Tomb of Ahmad Nizam Shah
1st Sultan of Ahmadnagar
Reign	28 May 1490–1510
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Burhan Nizam Shah I
Died	1510
Names Malik Ahmad Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri Shah
Dynasty	Nizam Shahi dynasty (founder)
Father	Nizam-ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri
Religion	Sunni Islam

Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah (Persian: ملک احمد نظام شاه) was the founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty and the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.

Ahmad was the son of the Nizam ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri, a Hindu Brahmin from Beejanuggar (or Bijanagar) originally named Timapa who converted to Islam. However According to Ranade and Akola district gazetteer his father was the Kulkarni of Pathri a town in marathwada. Ahmad's father was made Malik Na'ib on the death of Mahmud Gavan and was appointed prime minister by Mahmood Shah Bahmani II. Soon after, he appointed Ahmad governor of Beed and other districts in the vicinity of Dowlutabad. He chose to take up residence in Junnar. His initial attempts to take up this responsibility were rejected by the local officers, but, despite his youth and the weakness of the Sultanate, he captured the hillfort at Soonere and the city after a long siege. Using the resources from the city, he campaigned through 1485, capturing Chavand, Lohgad, Tung, Kooray, Tikona, Kondhana, Purandar, Bhorop, Jivdhan, Kuhrdroog, Murud-Janjira, Mahuli and Pali. He was fighting in the Konkan coastal regions when he heard of the death of his father. Withdrawing to Junnar in 1486, Ahmad assumed the titles of Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri from his father, the last signifying a falcon as Hasan had been falconer to the Sultan.