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Abdullah Qutb Shah of Hyderabad Dakkan
Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On April 21, 1672 AD, Abdullah Qutb Shah, the 6th ruler of the Qaraqoyunlu Iranian-Turkic dynasty of the Deccan (southern India), died after a rule of 46 years that was marked by aggressions and gradual encroachment on his territory by the Mughals of Hindustan (northern India). Nonetheless, he patronized art, architecture, literature, and sciences, as migration of scholars continued from Iran.
He was an accomplished Persian poet himself and established religious institutions in his capital, Haiderabad, which are still active today. His mother, the sagacious lady, Hayat-Bakhshi Begum, was the daughter of the founder of the city of Haiderabad, Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah, while his father Sultan Mohammad Qutb Shah was the nephew and successor of the former.
Abdullah Qutb Shah maintained extensive correspondence with Shah Abbas II of the Safavid Empire of Iran, whose name was read in the Friday Prayer sermons as emperor – a matter that irritated the Mughals.
During his rule, several valuable works were written in Persian, such as “Akhlaq-e Abdullah Qutb Shahi” on ethics by the famous prime minister and scholar, Sheikh Mohammad ibn Khatun, the lexicon “Burhan-e Qateh’” by Ibn Khalaf Tabrizi, and Ali ibn Tayfur’s translation from Arabic of Ibn Babawaiy Qommi’s celebrated book on the 8th Infallible Imam of the Prophet’s Household “Oyoun Akhbar ar-Reza” under the title “Toḥfa-e Malaki”.
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