Nawruz Ahmad

Nawruz Ahmad was a ruler of the Shaybanid dynasty, known in the sources also as Baraq Khan. He was the second son of Suyunchkhoja Khan, ruler of Tashkent, and the younger brother of Keldi Muhammad Khan. The year of his birth is not firmly established; 1510 is the one usually given. In his youth he was brought up by the poet Vasifi, from whom he learned poetry, music and prosody, though he devoted more time to riding and military exercises.

After his father's death he governed Tashkent (Uzbek encyclopedic sources date this to 1533–1551). By the middle of the sixteenth century the Shaybanid state had split into several appanages: Abdullatif Khan ruled in Samarkand, Abdulaziz Khan, the son of Ubaydulla Khan, in Bukhara, and Tashkent remained in Nawruz Ahmad's hands. In 1551 he joined Abdullatif Khan in a campaign against Karmana.

When Abdullatif died in 1551, Nawruz Ahmad took Samarkand, was proclaimed supreme khan of the Shaybanids and moved the capital from Tashkent to Samarkand. The sermon was read in his name in the cities of Transoxiana, and coins in his name were struck in Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent and Balkh. In Bukhara, however, Abdulaziz Khan's authority survived, so the state in practice remained divided between two centres.

Pir Muhammad Khan from Balkh and his nephew Abdullah Khan (the future Abdullah Khan II) marched against Nawruz Ahmad in 1553, 1554 and 1555 but, according to the Tajik National Encyclopedia, were defeated each time. As ruler he paid attention to irrigation and attempted economic reforms; in his time Transoxiana's trade and diplomatic ties with the Near and Middle East, India, China and Siberia developed.

In Tashkent a madrasa bearing his name, that of Baraq Khan, was built beside his father's mausoleum; it remains one of Tashkent's architectural monuments today. The khan had eight sons, among them Baba Khan.

Nawruz Ahmad died in 1556. According to Hafiz Tanish Bukhari's «Abdullanama», he had come to repair the Ravatkhoja weir, the headwork of the Dargom canal fed by the Zarafshan, and died suddenly there. The date of death differs between sources: 10 September or 23 November. Some accounts say he was buried in Samarkand beside the grave of Khoja Ahrar. Supreme authority among the Shaybanids then passed to Pir Muhammad Khan.