Sultan Muhammad

Sultan Muhammad Mirza was a Timurid prince and grandson of the Central Asian conqueror Timur by his third son Miran Shah. Little is known about his life, though through his son Sultan Abu Sa'id Mirza, he was the great-grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire of India. Life Muhammad Mirza was the sixth son of Miran Shah, himself the third son of Timur. According to Abu'l Fazl, the Grand Vizier of his descendant Akbar, Muhammad Mirza's mother was Mihr Nush of the Fulad Qiya tribe. Orientalist Henry Beveridge stated that, while he does not know of this tribe, the fact that Muhammad Mirza is described as always living with his brother Khalil Sultan suggests that the two were likely full-siblings. This would imply that 'Mihr Nush' was an alternate name for Khalil Sultan's mother Khanzada Begum, the daughter of Aq Sufi Qunqirat of Khwarezm and granddaughter of Jani Beg, Khan of the Golden Horde. Muhammad Mirza was at some point appointed governor of Samarqand and married Shah Islam, daughter of Suhrab Kurd. She was a relative of Izz al-din Shir, the Kurdish ruler of Hakkâri and a former adversary of Timur. By this marriage he had two sons: Manuchihr Mirza (d. 1468) and Abu Sa'id Mirza.