Ahmad Shah Durrani
Ahmad Shāh Durrānī (Pashto: احمد شاه دراني; Persian: احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (Pashto: احمد شاه ابدالي), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is often regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In June 1747, he was appointed as King of the Afghans by a loya jirga in Kandahar, where he set up his capital.
| Ahmad Shah Durrani احمد شاه دراني | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Padishah Ghazi Shāh Durr-i-Durrān ("King, Pearl of Pearls") | |||||||||
Portrait of Ahmad Shah Durrani, c. 1757, Bibliothèque nationale de France | |||||||||
| 1st Emir of the Durrani Empire | |||||||||
| Reign | 1747–1772 | ||||||||
| Coronation | June 1747 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Position established | ||||||||
| Successor | Timur Shah Durrani | ||||||||
| Born | Ahmad Khan Abdali 1720–1722: 287 Herat, Sadozai Sultanate of Herat (present-day Afghanistan) or Multan, Multan Subah, Punjab, Mughal Empire (present-day Punjab, Pakistan) | ||||||||
| Died | (aged 49–52): 409 Maruf, Kandahar Province, Durrani Empire (present-day Afghanistan) | ||||||||
| Burial | June 1772 | ||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||
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| Dynasty | House of Durrani | ||||||||
| Father | Mohammad Zaman Khan Abdali | ||||||||
| Mother | Zarghona Anaa | ||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||
| Royal seal | |||||||||
Primarily with the support of the Pashtun tribes, Ahmad Shah pushed eastward to the Mughal and Maratha Empires of India, westward to the disintegrating Afsharid Empire of Iran, and northward to the Khanate of Bukhara of Turkestan. Within a few years, he extended his control from Khorasan in the west to North India in the east, and from the Amu Darya in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south.
Soon after accession, Ahmad Shah adopted the epithet Shāh Durr-i-Durrān, "King, Pearl of Pearls", and changed the name of his "Tareen" Abdali tribe to "Durrani" after himself. His tomb is in the center of Kandahar, adjacent to Kirka Sharif (Shrine of the Cloak), which contains a cloak believed to have been worn by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Afghans often call him Ahmad Shāh Bābā, "Ahmad Shah the Father".