Shah Abu’l Maʿālī, also Abu’l Maʿālī Shah (died 1564) was a Persian émigré intellectual, Sufi-leaning courtier, and poet who became briefly prominent at the early Mughal court, especially during the reign of Humayun. He was from Kashgar in Central Asia. He is remembered today largely because of a series of depictions, including a portrait attributed to Mir Sayyid Ali (c. 1545), which is one of the earliest naturalistic Mughal portraits.
Shah Abu’l Maʿālī was part of the wave of Safavid-trained literati and artists who entered Mughal service after Humayun's exile to Persia and return to India. He was a man of letters, poet, and an intellectual, associated with Sufi and heterodox religious ideas.
He appears to have enjoyed temporary favor under Humayun. Contemporary sources portray Abu’l Maʿālī as eccentric, outspoken, and intellectually provocative, which likely contributed both to his prominence and his downfall. As he had been a close confidant of Humayun, he assumed that he now also had a special position at court. According to Abu 'l-Fazl, this misjudgment caused him to behave so inappropriately.II: 28–29
Humayun died unexpectedly in a fall in 1556.Abu-l-Fazl: The Akbar Nāma. Translated from the Persian by Henry Beveridge. 1897, vol. I, pp. 657-658. His son Jalāl ud-Dīn Muhammad, commonly known by his epithet "Akbar", was crowned on February 14, 1556.Abu-l-Fazl: The Akbar Nāma. Translated from the Persian by Henry Beveridge. 1904, Band II, p. 5. However, Bairam Khan, who was instrumental in the reconquest of India, remained in office for the next few years.Abu-l-Fazl: The Akbar Nāma. Translated from the Persian by Henry Beveridge. 1904, Band II, p. 9. Akbar and his circle were deeply resentful of the arrogance of Humayun's protégé. He was said to have "seditious thoughts", and Abu'l Fazl, the chronicler of Akbar's reign, wrote of Abu'l Ma'ali was now a drunken madman whose "brain had been ruined by the worship of his own beauty". Three days after the coronation celebrations, Akbar held a large assembly to which Shah Abu 'l-Maʿali was also invited. He was arrested and taken to a prison in Lahore.II: 28–29 He was able to escape from there.II: 28–29
After his escape, Shah Abu'l Ma'ali was involved in murder and insurrection in Kashmir and Rajasthan during a period of eight years. Shah Abu'l Ma'ali, sought refuge in Kabul with Akbar's ten-year-old half-brother Mirza Muhammad Hakim and his influential mother Mah Chuchak Begam. His high lineage prompted Mah Chuchak to marry him off to her daughter Bakht-un-Nissa Begum. However, in his quest for unrestricted rule, Abu'l Maʿali murdered the Begam and some of her advisors just a few months later and attempted to take control of her son Mirza Muhammad Hakim. Mirza Muhammad Hakim appealed for help to his cousin Mirza Sulayman, formerly appointed by Humayun as governor of Badakhshan, who intervened in Kabul.As a descendant Timurs Mirza Sulayman felt entitled to sole rule and tried to shake off the supremacy of the Mughals. The Ā-īn-i Akbarī. By Abu L-Fazl Allami. Translated into English by H. Blochmann. 1927, Band I, S. 324–326 Mirza Sulayman finally caught Shah Abu'l Ma'ali near Kabul, and remitted him to Mirza Muhammad Hakim, who had him strangled, or hanged, in 1564.Akbarnama II: 321AkbarnamaII: 207
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