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Wazir Khan (Lahore)

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An Open-air restaurant outside the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore.

Wazir Khan, (real name Hakim Shaikh Ilam-ud-din Ansari), was a native of Chiniot, whose family migrated to Lahore[1] and who rose to be one of the court physicians to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in Lahore, and was in due course, over a long lifetime of service, made a Mughal noble. He remained Chief Qadi at Lahore for some time.[2]

He is best known, today, for founding Wazirabad, a city near river Chenab in Punjab and building the famous Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore. The title of 'Wazir Khan' by which he is remembered by posterity was granted him by Shah Jahan, and literally means a 'Wazir', or Vizier, a 'Minister/High Court Official'.

References

  1. ^ For other family connections in Lahore also see the articles on Fakir Khana and Hakim Ahmad Shuja
  2. ^ Dr AMK Islahi, Puranay Lahore ki Tareekh, Eik Jaeza (Urdu:A History of Old Lahore, An Evaluation), Lahore: Chand Publishers Anarkali, 1997, p.128