Overview
Muhammad Sultan, also called Muhammad Khan, ruled the Yarkent Khanate from 1591 or 1592 until about 1609 (some sources give 1610). The fifth son of Abdurashid Khan, he defended the khanate against an Uzbek invasion, curbed the power of its emirs and received the first European known to have travelled through the Tarim Basin in this period, the Jesuit Bento de Góis.
Rise to Power
Under his brother Abd al-Karim he governed Kashgar and Aksu. While he was campaigning against the Kyrgyz, another brother, Abu Said Sultan, tried to seize the throne. The emirs of Yarkand backed Muhammad Sultan, who on his return was raised on a felt and proclaimed Great Khan.
Rule and Achievements
- Repelled an invasion by the Shaybanid Abdullah Khan II of Bukhara in 1594
- Crushed a revolt in Chalish and Turpan and reduced the power of the Barlas emirs
- Became a disciple of Khoja Ishaq Wali, who named him his spiritual successor before dying in 1599, and granted Ishaq's son Khoja Yahiya villages and rights to jade mining
- Received Bento de Góis, the envoy of the Mughal emperor Akbar, at Yarkand in November 1603
- Received an envoy of Shah Abbas I of Iran in 1605
Legacy
Muhammad Sultan died in 1610 at about 72 and was succeeded by his son Shudja ad-Din Ahmad Khan. By binding the throne to the Ishaqiya khojas he strengthened his own position, but he also gave a religious faction a stake in the succession.