Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah

Ahmad was born into the ruling family of the Bengal Sultanate, during the reign of his father Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah in 1419. They belonged to the Ganesha dynasty, and Ahmad's grandfather was Raja Ganesha, a Bengali Hindu. Ahmad's father had become a Muslim in 1415 and so Ahmad was born a Bengali Muslim.

File:মহজমপুর শাহী মসজিদ.jpg during Ahmad Shah's reign.]]

Ahmad's father died in Rabiʽ al-Thani 837 AH (November/December 1433 CE) and so Ahmad ascended the throne at 14 years of age.{{cite Banglapedia|author=Taher, MA|article=Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah}}

The Muazzampur Shahi Mosque, adjoining the dargah of Shah Alam Shah Langar, in Muazzampur, Sonargaon was built during the reign of Ahmad Shah.{{cite Banglapedia|article=Muazzampur Shahi Mosque|author=Muazzam Hussain Khan}} The Persian inscription mentions officers by the name of Firuz Khan and Ali Musa Sultan.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.126929|title=Asiatic Society Of Pakistan Vol-ii|year=1957|author=Ahmad Hasan Dani|author-link=Ahmad Hasan Dani|chapter=Analysis of the Inscriptions|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.126929/page/n47 38]–41}}{{cite book|title=Epigraphy and Islamic Culture: Inscriptions of the Early Muslim Rulers of Bengal (1205–1494)|last=Siddiq|first=Mohammad Yusuf|date=19 Nov 2015|publisher=Routledge|page=139|chapter=Inscriptions of the Sultanate period}}

According to Firishta, he followed the liberal policy of his father and was known for justice and charity. His father had good ties with Barsbay,{{cite Banglapedia|article=Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah|author=MA Taher}} a Mamluk sultan who had gifted Jalaluddin with investiture, a robe of honour and a letter of recognition.{{cite book|author=Al-Sakhawi|author-link=Al-Sakhawi|language=ar|title=Al-Daw al-lami' li ahli al-Qarni al-Tasi}}{{cite book|title=Zafar ul wālih bi Muzaffar wa ālihi|language=ar|author= ʻAbdallāh Muḥammad Ibn-ʻUmar al-Makkī al-Āṣafī al-Ulughkhānī Hajjī ad-Dabir}} Jalaluddin had died before his own gifts could be dispatched to Barsbay, and so the job was left for Ahmad Shah to complete. Ahmad Shah had slightly delayed the dispatching but nevertheless sent the initial gifts of his father off whilst also adding more gifts of his own.{{cite book|title=Corpus of the Muslim Coins of Bengal: (down to A. D. 1538)|author=Abdul Karim|author-link=Abdul Karim (historian)|publisher=Asiatic Society of Pakistan|year=1960}} In total, the package was worth over 12,000 red tankas and included clothes, cotton, ginger, myrobalan and other spices. The envoy, travelling from Bengal to Cairo via the Indian Ocean, sank whilst at Jeddah's coast. In 1436, the Governor of Jeddah sent some men to search the Red Sea for the gifts and they came back with the textiles although the spices were damaged by the water. After Barsbay was informed of this by the Governor, he ordered for the arrest of all members of the Bengali embassy, the confiscation of their envoy's merchandise, and banned them from ever travelling to Cairo again.{{cite book|title=Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World|last=Behrens-Abouseif|first=Doris|date=16 May 2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|pages=9, 29, 46}}

Ahmad Shah ruled for only 3 years and had no heirs. His reign was marked with chaos and anarchy including an invasion led by Ibrahim Shah Sharqi. He was buried in the Eklakhi Mausoleum with his mother and father.{{Cite web |url=http://www.asikolkata.in/maldah.aspx |title=Adina Masjid |website=ASI, Kolkata Circle |access-date=2019-04-03}}

Contemporary historian Firishta mentions that one of Ahmad Shah's attendants, "Nasir ad-Din Ghulam", seized the throne after his death. 18th-century historian Ghulam Husain Salim claims that Ahmad himself was killed by two of his attendants, Shadi Khan and Nasir Khan, who fought amongst themselves with Nasir Khan usurping control.{{cite book|last=Salim|first=Gulam Hussain|author2=tr. from Persian |author3=Abdus Salam |title=Riyazu-s-Salatin: History of Bengal|url=https://archive.org/details/riyazussalatinhi00saliuoft/page/118/mode/2up|year=1902|publisher=Asiatic Society, Baptist Mission Press|pages=119}} The nobles of Bengal managed to depose Khan within his short reign of either seven days, half a day or a few hours. The nobles subsequently installed to the throne a farmer named Mahmud, after realising that he descended from the Ilyas Shahis, the inaugural ruling dynasty of Bengal.Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2006). The Delhi Sultanate, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, p.211{{cite book |last=Ferishta |first=Mahomed Kasim |title=History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Till the Year AD 1612|date=January 2016 |volume=4|publisher=Oriental Books|page=199|url=https://archive.org/details/history-of-the-rise-of-the-mahomedan-power-in-india-vol.-1/History%20Of%20The%20Rise%20Of%20The%20Mahomedan%20Power%20In%20India%2C%20Vol.%204/page/199/mode/2up|editor=Briggs, John}}

{{S-start}}

{{S-hou|House of Ganesha}}

{{S-bef|before=Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah}}

{{S-ttl|title=Sultan of Bengal|years=1433–1436}}

{{S-aft|after=Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah}}

{{end}}

• List of rulers of Bengal
• History of Bengal
• History of India

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad Shah, Shamsuddin}}

Category:Sultans of Bengal

Category:15th-century Indian Muslims

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:15th-century Indian monarchs

Category:1436 deaths

Category:15th-century Bengalis

Category:Sunni monarchs

Category:People from Dinajpur District, Bangladesh