Buraq Hajib

Buraq Hajib, also spelt Baraq Hajib (died 1234), was a Khitan who founded a dynasty in the southern Persian province of Kirman the early 13th century after the conquest of the sinicised Central Asian Qara Khitai by the Mongol Empire. Buraq Hajib's Kirmani Qara Khitai Khanate ended in the 14th century.

The Khitan in northern China were known as خطا in Arabic (Khata) and are mentioned by Muslim chroniclers as having fought against Muslims and founded the Qara Khitai. After the destruction of the Qara Khitai realm by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1218, the former land of the Qara Khitai became absorbed into the Mongol Empire. A small part of the population under Buraq Hajib settled in the Persian province of Kirman, converted to Islam, and established a local dynasty there.

Buraq Hajib was a scion of the Qara Khitai Gurkhan Yelü Zhilugu. Buraq Hajib and his brother Hamīd Pur were detained or captured by the Muhammad of Khwarezm in 1210, and were given important posts in the service of the Khwarazm Shah. While on his way to India, Buraq was attacked by the local governor of Kirman, but Buraq managed to defeat him and decided to stay on in Kirman as ruler. In 1228 a Khwarazm Ghiyas-ad-Din sought refuge in Kirman after incurring the wrath of his brother, Sultan Jalal ad-Din, but Buraq executed him. Buraq converted to Islam and requested the Abbasid Caliph for investiture, and was granted a title of Qutlugh Sultan.

Buraq later submitted to the Mongol Empire, and he and his successors were conferred the title of Qutlugh Khan, and allowed to ruled as vassal of the Mongols. Throughout its rule the dynasty continued to be known as Qara Khitai. There were a total of 9 rulers of the Kirmanid dynasty, two of whom were female.

Buraq Hajib had a son, Rukn al-Din, and four daughters. He was succeeded by his son Rukn al-Din (d. 1252), and then by his cousin Qutb al-Din (d. 1257), who was married to his daughter Kutlugh Turkan (d. 1282); when Qutb al-Din died in 1257 when his son Hajjaj was only a minor, the Kirman notables asked the Mongol overlords to recognize his mother, Buraq Hajib's daughter and Qutb al-Din's mother, as the sovereign of Kirman, which they did, and she ruled until 1282, establishing an alliance with Mongolia by sending her son to the army of Hulagu and marrying her daughter Padishah Khatun to Abaka Khan, Hulagu's son: she was officially confirmed in her title by Hulagu 1264, named 'Ismat al-dunya wa al-din, and had the khutba proclaimed in her name. She was deposed by her stepson Suyurghatamish in 1282, who was in turn deposed by her daughter Padishah Khatun in 1291, who ruled until 1295.

The Mongol Ilkhanid ruler Öljeitü (r.1304-1316) ended the Kirman Qara Khitan dynasty in 1306 after the last of the Qutlugh Khans, Quțb al-Dīn II, neglected to pay his dues to the Mongol treasury. The Qutlugh Khan escaped to Shiraz, and his daughter later became the wife of Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, the founder of the Muzaffarid dynasty.