Majd al-Din Muhammad Khvafi

Majd al-Din Muhammad Khvafi was a Persian[1] bureaucrat and military leader, who served the Timurid Empire in the late 15th-century.

Belonging to a family native to the Khvaf region in Khorasan, Majd al-Din was a son of Ghiyath al-Din Pir Ahmad Khvafi (d. 1453), who had occupied high offices under the Timurids, serving as the vizier of king Shah Rukh (r. 1405–1447) from 1417 to 1447.[2][3] Majd al-Din started his career his career as a munshi (scribe) in the chancery of Abu Sa'id Mirza (r. 1451–1469), where he shared power with the prominent bureaucrat Nizam al-Din Abd al-Hayy Munshi. He later appears as the vizier of Sultan-Ahmad's son Muhammad-Sultan, during Sultan Husayn Bayqara's accession to power in Herat in 1469. When the latter was informed of Majd al-Din's bureaucratic prowess, he appointed him as his bureaucrat.[4] There Majd al-Din first served him as a mustaufi (accountant). Promising Sultan Husayn to restore the Timurid economy, he was guaranteed to later gain free rein in the fiscal administration and tax accumulation. According to the Baburnama, Majd al-Din promised him that; "Before long, the peasant will prosper, the soldier will be content, and the treasury will be full."[5] In the spring of 1472, Majd al-Din was promoted to the high-ranking post of parvanachi, the head of the financial affairs, which also gave him the authority to attach his seal on all government documents. Seals were commonly used in the medieval Persian chancery, the most prominent one being the great royal seal (muhr-i buzurg, muhr-i kalan, muhr-i humayun) and the seal of the parvana (muhr-i parvana).[5]

The ability to present petitions to the court, document all the proceedings, and authorize all decrees were all delegated to Majd al-Din only, which made the contemporary Persian historian Muhammad Khwandamir refer him as Sultan Husayn's "deputy."[6] Majd al-Din's power now matched that of the leading amirs of the court. He notably became a member of the royal household/guard establishment, a right that the Turkic military elite normally enjoyed. This was not the first time a Persian had gained this right; this had also occurred to Rashid al-Din Hamadani, a vizier of the Ilkhanate.[7] This was not received well amongst the amirs, who under Hasan-Shaykh Temür, complained to Sultan Husayn that their privileges had been transgressed. Majd al-Din was notably supported by the influential Turkic statesman Ali-Shir Nava'i, who argued that the court did not have to stick to the traditions of the past, but should try new methods by elevating competent people to administrative posts. With his newly gained authority, Majd-Din restored stability to the bureaucracy and agriculture in Khorasan.[8]

Majd al-Din served Sultan Husayn for the remainder of his life, until his death in 1494.[4]

References
  1. Subtelny 2007, p. 5.
  2. Subtelny 2007, pp. 79–80.
  3. Manz 2007, pp. 95–99.
  4. Subtelny 2007, p. 82.
  5. Subtelny 2007, p. 83.
  6. Subtelny 2007, pp. 83–84.
  7. Subtelny 2007, p. 84.
  8. Subtelny 2007, p. 85.

Sources
  • Manz, Beatrice Forbes (2007). Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46284-6.
  • Subtelny, Maria (2007). Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16031-6.
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