Qutb-ud-din Aibak (Persian: ; lit.

"Axis of the Faith") was a Turkic king of Northwest

India who ruled from his capital in Delhi where he built the Qutub Minar and the Quwwat Al Islam
mosque.
[1]
He was of Turkic descent from central Asia, the first Sultan of Delhi and founder of the Slave
dynasty (also known as the Ghulam dynasty) of India. He ruled for only four years, from 1206 to 1210 AD.
He died while playing polo in Lahore.
[2]
Qutbuddin was born somewhere in the area of what is today known as Afghanistan; he was
of Turkic descent.
[3][4]
There are also evidence that he might be from the town of Aibak which serves as
the provincial capital of Samangan Province. While still a child he was captured and sold as a slave
(ghulam). He was purchased by the chief Qazi of Nishapur, a town in the province of Khorasan in
northeastern Iran. The Qazi treated him like one of his own sons, and Aibak received a very good
education in all the major subjects, was a very brave warrior and an appreciable ruler and intelligent in
languages including fluency in Persianand Arabic
[5]
and training in archery and horsemanship. When his
master died, his master's sons, who were jealous of Aibak, sold him to a slave merchant. Aibak was,
then, finally purchased by the great General Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghauri, then governor of Ghazni.
Starting with his native Ghori, an Aimak principality, Shahabuddin Ghauri proved to be a distinguished
personality of the history and managed to establish control over most of present-
day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. Under his command, Qutbuddin conquered Delhi in 1193
after the victory in the Battles of Tarain.
[6]
As governor of northern India, Aibak was very refined and
established the first verifiable Muslim administration through collection of state taxes, establishing the rule
of law, equitable distribution of land and revenues to the nobles under his charge, and governance based
on a mixture of locally elected representation through Mashura courts and nominated administrators on
every rank to ensure the good working of the government.
Qutbuddin rose through the ranks to become the Emperor Muhammad Ghauri's most trusted general. His
greatest military successes occurred while he was directly under Ghauri's guidance and leadership. Qutb
was responsible for executing and consolidating Ghauri's conquests in northern India. He was left in
increasingly independent charge of the Indian campaigns and the exaction of levies from the areas
in India that were under Sultan Ghauri's conquests, as after 1192 the ambitious Sultan Ghauri
concentrated on Central Asia.
In 1206, the Emperor Ghauri appointed Qutb-ud-din Aibak as his Naib us Sultanat in India
[7]
at a
grand darbar (reception) at Lahore, which was attended by a large majority of the nobles and dignitaries
of his vast empire. It was at this occasion that Ghauri bestowed upon Qutb-ud-din the title of Aibak,
meaning "Axis of the Faith".
[8]

Sultan Qutbuddin died accidentally in 1210. While he was playing a game of polo in Lahore on horseback
(Polo known as Chougan in India), his horse fell and the sultan was impaled on the pommel of his saddle.
He was buried near the Anarkali bazaar in Lahore. Aibak's son Aram, died in 1211 CE,
[2]
so Shams-ud-
din Iltutmish, another ex-slave and an outstanding ruler of Turkic ancestry who was married to Aibak's
daughter, succeeded him as Sultan of Delhi.
Aibak's tomb is located behind Anarkali Bazaar, Lahore today and is a famous tourist site. In the early
1970s, it was renovated at the orders of the then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.



The mausoleum of Qutb ud Din Aibak in Anarkali, Lahore, Pakistan.


The mausoleum of Qutb ud Din Aibak in Anarkali, Lahore, Pakistan.


The grave of Qutb ud Din Aibak in Anarkali, Lahore, Pakistan.


The date of death of Qutb ud Din Aibak is mentioned as 607 AH or 1210 CE, Lahore, Pakistan.