Sikandar Khan Ghazi
{{distinguish|Sikandar Shah}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{infobox officeholder
|honorific_prefix = Shaheed
| name = Sikandar Khan
|honorific_suffix = Ghazi
| term_start = 1303
| term_end = ?
| title =
| predecessor = Raja Gour Govinda
| successor = Haydar Ghazi
| monarch = Shamsuddin Firuz Shah
| death_date = before 1346
| death_place = Surma River
}}
Sikandar Khān Ghāzī ({{langx|fa|{{Nastaliq|سکندر خان غازی}}}}, {{langx|bn|সিকান্দার খান গাজী}}) was the first wazir of Srihat under the Lakhnauti Kingdom ruled by Shamsuddin Firuz Shah.{{cite book|title=Sreehatter Itibritta – Purbangsho (A History of Sylhet), Part 2|volume=1|chapter=1|first=Achyutcharan|last=Choudhury|authorlink=Achyut Charan Choudhury|publisher=Mustafa Selim; Source publication, 2004}} Prior to this, Khan was one of the commanders of the Battles of Gour during the Conquest of Sylhet in 1303.{{cite book|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh|author=Abdul Karim|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Shah_Jalal_(R)|chapter=Shah Jalal (R)|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh}} Early Persian manuscripts and inscriptions relating to Shah Jalal name Sikandar Khan Ghazi as well, highlighting his role as a commander in the battles.{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/biographicalency00hain/page/n187 170]-171|title=Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalency00hain|url-access=limited|last=Hanif|first=N|year=2000}}
Background
Sikandar Khan Ghazi's maternal uncle was the Sultan of Lakhnauti, Shamsuddin Firuz Shah.{{cite book|title=Coins and Chronology of the Early Independent Sultans of Bengal|last=Bhattasali|first=Nalinikanta|publisher=Creative Media Partners|date=13 Oct 2018}} He was of Turco-Persian tradition, and entered Bengal alongside Firuz.
Career
Sikandar Khan was appointed as a commander of an army and took part in many expeditions across Bengal. He defeated Raja Matuk of the Sundarbans in South Bengal. He accompanied Firuz in the conquests of Sonargaon and Satgaon, before reaching the Sylhet region.{{fact|date=September 2024}}
Shaykh Burhanuddin, a Muslim living in Tultikar, Gour, notified Shamsuddin Firuz Shah of the injustice he was facing and Firuz ordered Sikandar to lead the expedition to Gour Kingdom. Sikandar's army, however, were inexperienced in the foreign hilly terrain and had no option but to retreat back to Bengal to avoid casualties. When Shah Jalal arrived in Bengal, Sikandar met him and greeted him with respect. He asked the cleric to join him in the expedition and that it is not the Raja's wealth and property which he wants but rather to propagate Islam in the Sylhet region. With the assistance of Shah Jalal and Syed Nasiruddin, the Conquest of Gour was successful. The King of the Gour Kingdom, Raja Gour Govinda escaped to Harong Hurong cave and was never heard of again.{{fact|date=September 2024}}
Following the conquest, Sikandar was made the wazir and ruled over Sylhet.{{cite book|title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib|last=Sengupta|first=Nitish|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Books}} He reportedly ruled from modern-day Badarpur in Karimganj towards the east of the Sylhet region. Ghazi's drawing room can be seen in the village of Gorkapon sitting on the banks of the Barak River.{{cite book|title=Indigenous People of Barak Valley|first=Atiqur Rahman|last=Barbhuiya|publisher=Notion Press|date=27 Jan 2020}}
{{Quote box|title=Sikandar's death
|quote=
Tokhone morilo shei Shah Shikandor
It was then that Sikandar Shah passed away
বেসরদার হৈল তবে ছিলট নগর
Be-shordar hoilo tobe Silot Nogor
Sylhet town became sardar-less
এজন্যে হযরত শাহ জালাল এমনী
Ejonne Hazrat Shah Jalal Yemeni
For that reason, Hazrat Shah Jalal of Yemen
নিযুক্ত করিল এক সরদার তখনি
Nijukto korilo ek shordar tokhoni
Appointed another sardar at the time|source={{snds}}Tarikh-e-Jalali}}
Death
Khan drowned whilst journeying on a boat to catch fish in at the junction of the Surma, Barak and Kushiyara rivers in Badarpur. His body was never found. Due to this he is considered a shaheed (martyr) in Islam.{{Hadith-usc|bukhari|usc=yes|4|52|82}} He was succeeded by Haydar Ghazi, who was appointed by Shah Jalal himself.{{cite book|author=Syed Murtaza Ali|title=Hazrat Shah Jalal O Sylheter itihas|language=bn|year=1965|publisher=University Press}} This shows that Khan's death took place before 1346, which was the year of Shah Jalal's death. There is a poem found in the biography of Shah Jalal, Tarikh-e-Jalali, which mentions the incident.
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box|
before=Gour Govinda|
title=Wazir of Srihat|
years=1303-|
after=Haydar Ghazi}}
{{S-end}}