Shuja Shah Durrani

Shuja Shah Durrani (also known as Shah Shujah, Shoja Shah, Shujah al-Mulk) (c. November 4, 1785 – April 5, 1842) was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1803 to 1809. He then ruled from 1839 until his death in 1842. Shuja Shah was of the Sadozai line of the Abdali group of Pashtuns. He became the fifth Emir of Afghanistan.Encyclopedia Britannica -

Family

Shuja Shah was the son of Timur Shah Durrani of the Durrani Empire. He ousted his brother, Mahmud Shah, from power, and ruled Afghanistan from 1803 to 1809.

Marriages

1. A daughter of Fath Khan Tokhi
2. Wafa Begum
3. A daughter of Sayyid Amir Haidar Khan; Amir of Bokhara
4. A daughter of Khan Bahadur Khan Malikdin Khul
5. A daughter of Sardar Haji Rahmatu'llah Khan Sardozai; Wazir
6. Sarwar Begum
7. Bibi Mastan; of Indian origin

Career

Depositions, imprisonments and alliances

Shuja Shah was the governor of Herat and Peshawar from 1798 to 1801. He proclaimed himself as King of Afghanistan in October 1801 (after the deposition of his brother Zaman Shah), but only properly ascended to the throne on July 13, 1803.

Shuja allied Afghanistan with the United Kingdom in 1809, as a means of defending against a combined invasion of India by Napoleon and Russia.

On May 3, 1809, he was overthrown by his predecessor Mahmud Shah and went into exile in India, where he was captured by Jahandad Khan Bamizai and imprisoned at Attock (1811–2) and then taken to by Atta Muhammad Khan Kashmir (1812–3). When Mahmud......
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