Muhammad of Ghor - The Ghurid Empire

The Ghurid Empire

The Ghor region laid on the western boundary of the Ghaznavid Empire, which, in the early 12th century, covered an area stretching from what is now central Afghanistan to the Punjab in what is now Pakistan, with summer capital at Ghazni and winter capital at Lahore.

Beginning in the mid-12th century, Ghor expressed its independence from the Ghaznavid Empire. In 1149, the Ghaznavid ruler Bahram Shāh poisoned a local Ghūrid leader, Quṭb ud-Dīn, who had taken refuge in the city of Ghazna after a family quarrel. In revenge, the Ghūrid chief Ala-ud-Din Husain Shah sacked and burned the city of Ghazna and put the city into fire for seven days and seven nights. It earned him the title of Jahānsuz, meaning "the world burner". The Ghaznavids retook the city with Seljuk help, but lost it to Oghuz Turk freebooters. The Ghurids reconquered Ghaznā from the Oghuz Turks and in 1173, Shahabuddin Ghori became governor of the Ghazna province while his brother, Ghiyasuddin Ghori, became the Sultan of the Ghurid Empire.