Search

Malik Kāfūr (d. 715/1316) was a eunuch converted to Islam, reportedly of Marāťhā origin, who went on to become a high-ranking minister and powerful military commander during the reign of Sulṭān ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad Shāh Khaljī (r. 695–715/1296–1316). Acquired as a young slave during the conquest of Gujarat in 698/1299—his sobriquets hazār dinārī and al-alfī (lit., of a thousand dinars) ostensibly referred to the price paid for him—Kāfūr’s advance over the following years is undocumented, although his later career was very successful. In about 705–…