Masuma Sultan Begum
| Masuma Sultan Begum | |
|---|---|
| Queen consort of Ferghana Valley and Samarkand | |
| Tenure | 1507 – 1509 |
| Died | c. 1509 Kabul |
| Spouse | Babur |
| Issue | Masuma Sultan Begum |
| House | House of Timur (by birth) |
| Father | Sultan Ahmed Mirza |
| Mother | Habiba Sultan Begum |
| Religion | Islam |
Masuma Sultan Begum (died 1509) was the Queen consort of Ferghana Valley and Samarkand as the fifth wife of Emperor Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire and the first Mughal emperor. Masuma was born a Timurid princess and was the fifth and youngest daughter of Babur's paternal uncle, Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the King of Samarkand and Bukhara.
Family
Masuma Sultan Begum was born a Timurid princess as the fifth and youngest daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the King of Samarkand and Bukhara, and his fifth wife Habiba Sultan Begum, niece of Sultan Husain Aghun. She had five elder half sisters, of which two became her sisters-in-law. She was the step daughter of Mihr Nigar Khanum, sister of Babur's mother Qutlugh Nigar Khanum. She was the half sister of Aisha Sultan Begum, first wife of Babur, whom he later divorced, because of their eldest sister Rabia Sultan Begum.[1]
Her father was the eldest son and successor of Abu Sa'id Mirza, the Emperor of the Timurid Empire. Masuma's paternal uncles included Umar Sheikh Mirza, the ruler of Ferghana Valley, who later became her father-in-law as well while her first cousins included her future husband, Babur, and his elder sister, Khanzada Begum.
Marriage
Following Babur's loss of Samarkand and Andijan, Habiba Sultan Begum, Masuma'a mother, brought Masuma to Herat. One day when Babur was visiting an elder relative on his expedition to Khosran, Masuma came there with her mother. Masuma fell in love with him. As Babur tells it, "At once I felt a rising in her great inclination towards me." Babur asked her hand in marriage. After an exchange of private messages, Babur's elder relative and Payanda Sultan Begum [wife of Babur's paternal uncle Ahmad Miran Shah Mirza] settled with Habiba Sultan Begum that the latter should bring her daughter to Kabul for Babur.[2] Babur then moved to Kabul where he married her in 1507.[3][4]
Death
A year after her marriage she gave birth to a girl, at the time of whose birth she was taken ill in child bed, and died. Her daughter was given her name.[3][5]
In popular culture
Queen Masuma Sultan Begum is a main character in Farzana Moon's historical novel, Babur: The First Moghul in India.
References
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