DARVĪŠ AḤMAD QĀBEŻ

 

DARVĪŠ AḤMAD QĀBEŻ (d. 912/1507), Timurid vizier. From the position of a lowly functionary charged with the task of writing out receipts (qabż; hence his nickname Qābeż) in the dīvān of the Timurid Solṭān-Ḥosayn Bāyqarā (q.v. Supplement; 873-911/1469-1506) he rose to the rank of amīr tūmān (commander of 10,000). In 911/1505-06 he was arrested after accusing Ṣāyen-al-Dīn ʿAlī, keeper of the seal (mohrdār) in the dīvān, of embezzlement. He was soon released, however, owing to the intervention of the chief amir, Moḥammad-e Walī Beg, who had Ṣāyen-al-Dīn arrested and replaced by Darvīš Aḥmad. After Sol ṭān-Ḥosayn’s death in 911/1506 Darvīš Aḥmad became vizier for his son Moẓaffar Ḥosayn Mīrzā, who ruled jointly with his elder brother, Badīʿ-al-Zamān Mīrzā, in Herat. Darvīš Aḥmad’s short term as vizier came to an end in April 1507, when he was killed as the result of a dispute during a drinking party at the home of Amir Yūsof ʿAlī Kükältāš, governor of Herat. Darvīš Aḥmad, a thoroughly corrupt official, was said to have brought many families to ruin by his shameless oppression and exploitation of the population. His death caused rejoicing in the streets. Fearing that the people of Herat might attack the bier if he were accorded a public burial, the governor ordered his body buried secretly in an unmarked grave outside the city.

 

Bibliography:

Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Ḵᵛāndamīr, Dastūr al-wozarāʾ, ed. S. Nafīsī, Tehran, 1317 Š./1938, pp. 453-56.

Idem, Ḥabīb al-sīar IV, p. 365 (read Qābeż for Fāyeż).

(M. E. Subtelny)

Originally Published: December 15, 1994

Last Updated: November 18, 2011

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Vol. VII, Fasc. 1, pp. 76-77