assumed the title
Badshah Ghazi after leading a
Mughal Army of 70,000 during the
Second Battle of Panipat, against 30,000 mainly
Hindu adversaries led by
Hemu. during the
Battle of Nicopolis.
Ghazi (, ''
) is an Arabic word, the active participle of the verb ġazā'', meaning 'to carry out a military expedition or raid'; the same verb can also mean 'to strive for' and
Ghazi can thus share a similar meaning to
Mujahid or "one who struggles". The
verbal noun of
ġazā is
ġazw or
ġazawān, with the meaning 'raiding'. A derived
singulative in
ġazwah refers to a single battle or raid. The term
ghāzī dates to at least the
Samanid period, where he appears as a
mercenary and frontier fighter in
Khorasan and
Transoxiana. Later, up to 20,000 of them took part in the Indian campaigns of
Mahmud of Ghazni.
Ghāzī warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to
brigandage and
sedition in times of peace. The corporations into which they organized themselves attracted adventurers,
zealots and religious and political dissidents of all ethnicities. In time, though, soldiers of
Turkic ethnicity predominated, mirroring the acquisition of Mamluks, Turkic
ghilman in the Mamluk retinues and guard corps of the caliphs and emirs and in the ranks of the
ghazi corporation, some of whom would ultimately rise to military and later political dominance in various Muslim states. In the west, Turkic
ghāzīs made continual incursions along the
Byzantine frontier zone, finding in the
akritai (
akritoi) their Greek counterparts. After the
Battle of Manzikert these incursions intensified, and the region's people would see the
ghāzī corporations coalesce into semi-
chivalric fraternities, with the white cap and the
club as their emblems. The height of the organizations would come during the Mongol conquest when many of them fled from Persia and Turkistan into Anatolia. As organizations, the
ghazi corporations were fluid, reflecting their popular character, and individual
ghāzī warriors would jump between them depending upon the prestige and success of a particular
emir, rather like the mercenary bands around western
condottiere. It was from these
Anatolian territories conquered during the
ghazw that the Ottoman Empire emerged, and in its legendary traditions it is said that its founder,
Osman I, came forward as a
ghāzī thanks to the inspiration of
Shaikh Ede Bali. In later periods of Islamic history the honorific title of
ghāzī was assumed by those Muslim rulers who showed conspicuous success in extending the domains of Islam, and eventually the honorific became exclusive to them, much as the Roman title
imperator became the exclusive property of the supreme ruler of the Roman state and his family. The
Ottomans were probably the first to adopt this practice, and in any case the institution of
ghazw reaches back to the beginnings of their state: : By early Ottoman times it had become a title of honor and a claim to leadership. In an inscription of 1337 [concerning the building of the
Bursa mosque],
Orhan, second ruler of the Ottoman line, describes himself as "Sultan, son of the Sultan of the Gazis, Gazi son of Gazi… frontier lord of the horizons." Ottoman historian Ahmedi in his work explain the meaning of Ghazi: A Ghazi is the instrument of the religion of Allah, a servant of God who purifies the earth from the filth of polytheism. The Ghazi is the sword of God, he is the protector and the refuge of the believers. If he becomes a martyr in the ways of God, do not believe that he has died, he lives in beatitude with Allah, he has eternal life. The first nine Ottoman chiefs all used Ghazi as part of their full throne name (as with many other titles, the nomination was added even though it did not fit the office), and often afterwards. However, it never became a formal title within the ruler's formal style, unlike
Sultan ul-Mujahidin, used by Sultan Murad Khan II Khoja-Ghazi, 6th Sovereign of the House of Osman (1421–1451), styled 'Abu'l Hayrat, Sultan ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis. Because of the political legitimacy that would accrue to those bearing this title, Muslim rulers vied amongst themselves for preeminence in the
ghāziya, with the Ottoman Sultans generally acknowledged as excelling all others in this feat: : For political reasons the Ottoman Sultans — also being the last dynasty of
Caliphs — attached the greatest importance to safeguarding and strengthening the reputation which they enjoyed as
ghāzīs in the Muslim world. When they won victories in the
ghazā in the Balkans they used to send accounts of them (singular,
feth-nāme) as well as slaves and booty to eastern Muslim potentates. Christian knights captured by
Bāyezīd I at his victory over the Crusaders at
Nicopolis in 1396, and sent to Cairo, Baghdad and Tabriz were paraded through the streets, and occasioned great demonstrations in favour of the Ottomans. (
Cambridge History of Islam, p. 290)
Ghazi was also used as a title of honor in the Ottoman Empire, generally translated as the Victorious, for military officers of high rank, who distinguished themselves in the field against non-Moslem enemies; thus it was conferred on
Osman Pasha after his famous
defence of
Plevna in Bulgaria and on
Mustafa Kemal Pasha (later known as Atatürk) for leading the victory in the
Battle of the Sakarya. Some Muslim rulers (in Afghanistan) personally used the subsidiary style
Padshah-i-Ghazi. ==Muhammad's Ghazwa==