Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan
Abu'l-Hasan entitled by the Mughal emperor Jahangir as Itiqad Khan in 1611 and Asaf Khan in 1614, was the Grand Vizier of the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir, a position he held from the time of death of Mirza Ghiyas Beg till the accession of Shah Jahan. He previously served as the vakil of Jahangir. Asaf Khan is perhaps best known for being the father of Arjumand Banu Begum, the chief consort of Shah Jahan and the older brother of Empress Nur Jahan, and the maternal grandfather of mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Family
Asaf Khan was the son of the Persian noble Mirza Ghias Beg, who served as the Prime minister of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Ghiyas Beg was a native of Tehran, and was the youngest son of Khvajeh Mohammad-Sharif, a poet and vizier of Mohammad Khan Tekkelu and his son Tatar Soltan, who was the governor of the Safavid province of Khorasan. Asaf Khan's mother, Asmat Begam, was the daughter of Mirza Ala-ud-Daula Aqa Mulla.Both of Asaf Khan's parents were descendants of illustrious families – Ghias Beg from Muhammad Sharif and Asmat Begam from the Aqa Mulla clan. Asaf Khan's family had come to India impoverished in 1577, when his father, Mirza Ghias Beg, was taken into the service of Emperor Akbar in Agra.
Marriage
In his prime youth, Asaf Khan was married to Diwanji Begum, the daughter of a Persian noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of Qazvin, also entitled Asaf Khan. The couple had at least ten children together: three sons, Shaista Khan, Mirza Bahmanyar, and Farrukh Fal, and seven daughters, Arjumand Banu Begum, Malika Banu Begum, Farzana Begum, Saliha Banu Begum, Malja Banu Begum, Mihr-un-Nissa Begum, and Najiba Banu Begum.Vakil of state and Governor of Lahore
Mirza Abul Hasan Asaf Khan with the influence of his powerful sister Nur Jahan, the wife of Emperor Jahangir, who she at that time held all the power, was appointed as Vakil in 1611 and then Governor of Lahore by Emperor Jahangir in 1625. After the demise of Jahangir in 1627, he was instrumental in securing the accession of his son-in-law Shah Jahan by colluding with Dawar Bakht and defeating the acting emperor Prince Shahryar in a battle near Lahore. Asaf Khan enjoyed a position even more elevated than in the preceding reign and retained it until 1632, when he failed in the siege of Bijapur, from which time he seems to have lost favour.Positions
- Grand Vizier –
- Subehdar of Lahore
- Subehdar of Gujrat Subah
- Faujdar of Gagron –