GONĀBĀDI, ʿEMĀD-AL-DIN MOḤAMMAD

 

GONĀBĀDI (or Jonābādi), ʿEMĀD-AL-DIN MOḤAMMAD b. Zayn-al-ʿĀbedin b. Neẓām-al-Din Moḥammad (b. 19 Šawwāl 817/2 January 1415), Timurid financial officer and vizier. He belonged to a sayyed family from Gonābād, a village in the Qohestān region (Faṣiḥ, III, pp. 97, 149, 214; Maṭlaʿ-e saʿdayn, ed. Šafiʿ, II/1, p. 288). According to Ḵᵛāndamir (p. 362), he entered the service of Šāhroḵ (r. 807-50/1405-47) after the death of his father (after 829/1425-26), who had served for some time as the vizier of Timur. In 847/1443, he was appointed by Jalāl-al-Din Firuzšāh, Šāhroḵ’s most powerful amir, to control the financial affairs of Balk. Šāhroḵ had received information that deputies of amirs in Balḵ misappropriated revenues coming from Delhi, which used to be carried via Balḵ to Herat. He therefore secretly ordered ʿEmād-al-Din to investigate the matter as well as the tax revenues of the region for the previous three years. Since he alone did not have access to the matters of deputies of amirs, he carried out the task in the service of Mirzā Moḥammad Juki b. Šāhroḵ, who spent the winter of that year in the Balḵ region. In 848/1444, he presented to Šāhroḵ, in the presence of Firuzšāh, the register (daftar), which proved the misappropriation of funds by the amirs (Samarqandi II/2, pp. 794, 837 ff.; Ḵᵛāndmir, pp. 362-63; Ando, 1992, pp. 151 f.). After Šāhroḵ’s death, ʿEmād-al-Din entered Uluḡ Beg’s service and eventually became his vizier in 852/1448 (Ḵᵛāndamir, p. 363; ʿOqayli, p. 345). Moʿezz al-ansāb (pp. 140b, 146a) refers to him as one of the divāniān (ranking officials) under ʿAbd-al-Laṭif b. Uluḡ Beg (r. 1449-50) and Bābor b. Bāysonḡor (r. 1449, 1450-57). According to ʿOqayli (p. 345), he also entered the service of Mirzā Solṭān Sanjar b. Aḥmad b. ʿOmar Šayḵ (d. 1459) in the reign of Bābor, but died soon after. He is said to have been versed in astrology, history, and other sciences of the time (ʿOqayli, p. 345).

 

Bibliography:

Shiro Ando, Timuridische Emire nach dem Muʿizz al-ansāb, Berlin, 1992.

Faṣiḥ Ḵᵛāfi, Mojmal-e faṣiḥi, ed. Maḥmud Farroḵ, 3 vols., Mašhad, 1339 Š./1960.

Ḳᵛāndamir, Dastur al-wozarāʾ, ed. Saʿid Nafisi, Tehran, 2535=1355 Š./1976.

Moʿezz al-ansāb, MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, ancien fond persan 67.

Sayf-al-Din Ḥāji ʿOqayli, Āṯār al-wozarāʾ, ed. Jalāl-al-Din Moḥaddeṯ Ormavi, Tehran, 1337 Š./1958; repr. Tehran, 1364 Š./1985.

(Shiro Ando)

Originally Published: December 15, 2002

Last Updated: February 14, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XI, Fasc. 2, p. 122