Mirza Muhammad Ibrahim Khan Qizilbash (R. D. McChesney, 1983)

Mirza Muhammad Ibrahim Khan

A brief entry for Mirza Muhammad Ibrahim Khan appears in the biographical dictionary compiled in 1888 by the government of British India under the title “Biographical Accounts of the Chiefs, Sardars, and Others in Afghanistan”. (This work forms the basis for Part 2 of Ludwig Adamec’s Who’s Who of Afghanistan.) Up to now, this writer has not succeeded in finding a reference to him in other sources of the period although references abound to Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, a son of Amir Shir ‘Ali Khan and active in the politics of the area (as governor of Ghazni) where Mirza Muhammad Ibrahim Khan also appears. According to Who’s Who, the mirza is named in British intelligence reports of 1877 (probably compiled by the British agent in Kabul, Nawwab ‘Ata Muhammad Khan) as governor of the Hazarajat and later, in 1882, after ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan had come to the throne, as governor of “Kara Bola” in the Hazarajat. (“Kara Bola” is probably to be identified with Bula Qarah, one of the villages of Day Zangi.) It should be noted, however, that at the very outset of his regime (enthronement date: 5 Ramadan 1279/11 August 1880), ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan appointed governors to various areas adjacent to Kabul. He named Naib Sultan Khan Afshar (a Qizilbash) to Day Zangi and Day Kandi, Muhammad Huseyn Khan Farari Jawanshir (also a Qizilbash) to Hazarah-i Bahsud, and Dilawar Khan to Hazarah-i Jaghuri. The two former jurisdictions were clearly under Mirza Muhammad Ibrahim Khan in 1877 when the farman was issued. Although it is possible that he retained some authority as late as 1882 in “Kara Bola”, as the British agent reported, it may not have been authorized by Kabul. There is indirect, although perhaps irrelevant, circumstantial evidence that he may have had problems with ‘Abd al-Rahman’s regime. The palace of his brother, a former dabir al-mulk, in the Murad Khani quarter (a Qizilbash district) of Kabul was seized by the new amir for temporary quarters in 1880. However, the same man’s son, Muhammad Nabi (of the present document), not only survived the transition but flourished under the new regime, as will be seen below. In any event, other than the information contained in the British report, no evidence that Mirza Muhammad Ibrahim Khan was politically active after 1880 has turned up.

R. D. McChesney — A Farman issued by Amir Shir 'Ali Khan in 1877 (1983)