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Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali, (Pashto/Dari: ), (1767 – 1844) was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. He was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani. An ethnic Pashtun, Zaman Shah became the third King of the Durrani Empire.

Early Years
Zaman Shah Durrani was born as the son of Timur Shah Durrani. The date of his birth is disputed however. Fayz Muhammad gives 1767 as his birth date, while Noelle-Karimi gives 1770 as his birth date. Zaman Shah had always wanted to follow his father, Timur Shah Durrani with his conquests in Punjab, however Timur Shah Durrani did not allow it, and Zaman Shah very early grew interests of being like his grandfather, Ahmad Shah Durrani, as a child he had dreamt of conquering Hindustan, but to no avail in aid as his father did not allow him to come on his campaigns.

Death of Timur Shah Durrani
In May 1793, Zaman Shah's father, Timur Shah Durrani died, Timur Shah spent his winters at his winter capital of Peshawar, in the Bala Hissar. During this period of time, Timur Shah developed Hypochondriasis, falsely believing that he could be terminally ill. His doctors could not find a cure for this, and blamed it on the climate of Peshawar as a whole. Showing symptoms of Fever, Timur Shah set out to Kabul with winter coming to a close, as he usually in routine lived in Kabul during the summer, and Peshawar during the winter. Prince Zaman, hearing of the Shah's illness set out to meet him at Char Bagh. The Shah, happy kissed Zaman's forehead and attempted to continue his journey to Kabul, leaving Jalalabad. One night, while stopping, he described in a dream he saw to Zaman and Qazi Fayzullah that he saw his crown being lifted to his son, Zaman Shah Durrani. On 18 or 20 May, 1793, Timur Shah passed away from his illness.


 * "Two images have come to rest, the one yearned.
 * For the other, inspiring dread.
 * The sun has risen from the horizon, the moon has sunk to rest.
 * Like the cycle of sun and moon, Timur the throne descends,
 * And now the regent Zaman Shah ascends."

Reign
(FOR ZAMAN SHAH DURRANI) ---

Islamic conquest
Arab Muslims brought Islam to Herat and Zaranj in 642 CE and began spreading eastward; some of the native inhabitants they encountered accepted it while others revolted. Before the arrival of Islam, the region used to be home to various beliefs and cults, often resulting in Syncretism between the dominant religions such as Zoroastrianism,   Buddhism or Greco-Buddhism, Ancient Iranian religions, Hinduism, Christianity  and Judaism. An exemplification of the syncretism in the region would be that people were patrons of Buddhism but still worshipped local Iranian gods such as Ahura Mazda, Lady Nana, Anahita or Mihr(Mithra) and portrayed Greek Gods like Heracles or Tyche as protectors of Buddha. The Zunbils and Kabul Shahi were first conquered in 870 CE by the Saffarid Muslims of Zaranj. Later, the Samanids extended their Islamic influence south of the Hindu Kush. It is reported that Muslims and non-Muslims still lived side by side in Kabul before the Ghaznavids rose to power in the 10th century.

By the 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni defeated the remaining Hindu rulers and effectively Islamized the wider region, with the exception of Kafiristan. Mahmud made Ghazni into an important city and patronized intellectuals such as the historian Al-Biruni and the poet Ferdowsi. The Ghaznavid dynasty was overthrown by the Ghurids, whose architectural achievements included the remote Minaret of Jam. The Ghurids controlled Afghanistan for less than a century before being conquered by the Khwarazmian dynasty in 1215.

Mongols and Babur with the Lodi Dynasty
In 1219 CE, Genghis Khan and his Mongol army overran the region. His troops are said to have annihilated the Khwarazmian cities of Herat and Balkh as well as Bamyan. The destruction caused by the Mongols forced many locals to return to an agrarian rural society. Mongol rule continued with the Ilkhanate in the northwest while the Khalji dynasty, a Turko-Afghan dynasty ruling in India at the time administered the Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush. Timur aka (Tamerlane) invaded the region in 1370 and established the Timurid Empire. Under the rule of Shah Rukh the city served as the focal point of the Timurid Renaissance, whose glory matched Florence of the Italian Renaissance as the center of a cultural rebirth.

Khalji Dynasty and their origins
The Khaljis of the Khalji Dynasty were of Turko-Afghan   origin whose ancestors, the Khalaj, are said to have been initially a Turkic people who migrated together with the Iranian Huns and Hephthalites from Central Asia, into the southern and eastern regions of modern-day Afghanistan as early as 660CE, where they ruled the region of Kabul as the Buddhist Kabul Shahis. From the very beginning, the Khalaj were going through a process of assimilation into the Pashtun tribal system. During their reign in India, they were already treated entirely as Afghans by the Turkic nobles of the Delhi Sultanate.

The modern Pashto-speaking Ghilji Pashtuns, who make up the majority of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan, are the modern result of the Khalaj assimilation into the Pashtuns. Between the 10th and 13th centuries, some sources refer to the Khalaj people as of Turkic, but some others do not. Minorsky argues that the early history of the Khalaj tribe is obscure and adds that the identity of the name Khalaj is still to be proved. Mahmud al-Kashgari (11th century) does not include the Khalaj among the Oghuz Turkic tribes, but includes them among the Oghuz-Turkman (where Turkman meant "Like the Turks") tribes. Kashgari felt the Khalaj did not belong to the original stock of Turkish tribes but had associated with them and therefore, in language and dress, often appeared "like Turks". The 11th century Tarikh-i Sistan and the Firdausi's Shahnameh also distinguish and differentiate the Khalaj from the Turks. Minhaj-i-Siraj Juzjani (13th century) never identified Khalaj as Turks, but was careful not to refer to them as Pashtuns. They were always a category apart from Turks, Tajiks and Pashtuns. Muhammad ibn Najib Bakran's Jahan-nama explicitly describes them as Turkic, although he notes that their complexion had become darker (compared to the Turks) and their language had undergone enough alterations to become a distinct dialect. The modern historian Irfan Habib has argued that the Khaljis were not related to the Turkic people and were instead ethnic Pashtuns. Habib pointed out that, in some 15th-century Devanagari Sati inscriptions, the later Khaljis of Malwa have been referred to as "Khalchi" and "Khilchi", and that the 17th century chronicle Padshahnama, an area near Boost in Afghanistan (where the Khalaj once resided) as "Khalich". Habib theorizes that the earlier Persian chroniclers misread the name "Khalchi" as "Khalji". He also argues that no 13th century source refers to the Turkish background of the Khalji. However, Muhammad ibn Najib Bakran's Jahan-nama (c. 1200-1220) described the Khalaj people as a "tribe of Turks" that had been going through a language shift.

Babur and Fall of the Lodis
In the early 16th century, Babur arrived from Ferghana and captured Kabul from the Arghun dynasty. After failing in his attempts at campaigning in Samarkand, Babur saw elsewhere to expand into, setting his eyes into Punjab to fulfill his ancestor, Timur's legacy. in 1524, he recieved invitations from Daulat Khan Lodi the governor of Punjab, and Ala-ud-din, Uncle to Ibrahim Lodi Following this, Babur sent an ambassador to Ibrahim Lodi, claiming himself as the rightful ruler to the Delhi Sultanate and Lodi dynasty. This ambassador was detained at Lahore, but released later. Babur set out for Lahore in 1524, and heard news that Daulat Khan Lodi was stripped of his position and forced to flee after Ibrahim Lodi sent forces. Babur arrived at Lahore, and the Lodi army marched out, only to be routed. Babur then marched to Dibalpur, placing Alam Khan, another rebel uncle of Ibrahim Lodi as governor. Alam Khan was quickly overthrown however, and fled to Kabul. Babur then supplied Alam Khan with troops who later joined up with Daulat Khan Lodi, and together united to around 30,000 men. They then marched to Delhi and besieged the city against Ibrahim Lodi. However, despite odds against him, Ibrahim Lodi drove off and routed the army of Alam Khan. In November 1525 Babur got news at Peshawar that Daulat Khan Lodi had switched sides, and Babur drove out Ala-ud-Din. Babur then marched onto Lahore to confront Daulat Khan Lodi, only to see Daulat's army melt away at their approach. Daulat surrendered and was pardoned. Thus within three weeks of crossing the Indus River Babur had become the Ruler of Punjab.

Babur marched on to Delhi via Sirhind. He reached Panipat on 20 April 1526 and there met Ibrahim Lodi's numerically superior army of about 100,000 soldiers and 100 elephants. In the battle that began on the following day, Babur used the tactic of Tulugma, encircling Ibrahim Lodi's army and forcing it to face artillery fire directly, as well as frightening its war elephants. Ibrahim Lodi died during the battle, thus ending the Lodi dynasty.