Pir Muhammad Khan II

Pir Muhammad Khan II (Pir Muhammad ibn Sulayman) belonged to the Shaybanid dynasty, of the line descended from Abu’l-Khayr Khan. He was a son of Sulayman Sultan, a grandson of Jani Beg Sultan and a first cousin of Abdullah Khan II. He was born around 1550; the sources do not name his birthplace. He should not be confused with his uncle, Pir Muhammad I, who ruled in 1556–1561 and was his father’s brother.

In 1598, after Abdullah Khan II died, power passed to his son Abd al-Mu’min, who was killed by conspirators within months. Abd al-Mu’min’s son was still a small child, and Pir Muhammad was raised to the throne of Bukhara. Historians treat the episode differently: some Central Asian chronicles count Abd al-Mu’min as the last Shaybanid ruler, while a number of scholars, following the Persian chronicle of Iskandar Munshi, end the dynasty with Pir Muhammad II.

His reign fell in a time of turmoil. From the north the Kazakh khan Tawakkul invaded Transoxiana with a large army, took Tashkent and Samarkand and besieged Bukhara. Pir Muhammad fortified the city and, together with Baqi Muhammad of the Ashtarkhanid house, beat off the siege; Tawakkul withdrew to Tashkent and died there soon afterwards. As a reward for his help, Samarkand was given to Baqi Muhammad and other Ashtarkhanids, which strengthened a rival. In Tashkent in those years the Shaybanid Keldi Muhammad (1598–1604) held power and struck coins in his own name.

In 1599 Pir Muhammad’s army was defeated by Baqi Muhammad. According to the Russian and Uzbek Wikipedia articles, the khan was wounded, captured and executed on the victor’s orders; other accounts say he was killed in battle. His death is most often dated to 1599, which coins support, but one chronicle, the “Bahr al-asrar”, places the change of dynasty in 1601, and that date appears in reference works.

With the death of Pir Muhammad II Shaybanid rule in the Khanate of Bukhara ended, and the throne passed to the Ashtarkhanids (Janids), who ruled until 1785. Pir Muhammad’s sons, Muhammad Salim Sultan and Ibadulla Sultan, ruled in Hisar-i Shadman and Chaghaniyan.