Qasim Jan

Who is Qasim Jan?

Nawab Qasim Jan was a courtier in the royal courts of Mughal Delhi. He first lived in Lahore, attached to the court of the Governor, Moin-ul-Mulk, in the 1750s, thereafter he moved to Delhi, and joined the court of Delhi, in reign of Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II.

Soon he was given the title of Nawab, and given the region of and thereafter he built his home close to Red Fort, in Ballimaran, Delhi, in the lane that is still known as Gali Kasim Jan, and also built mosque nearby known as Qasim Khani Mosque. He had two brothers, Alam Jan and Arif Jan, whose son, Ahmad Baksh Khan, later founded the princely state of Loharu in 1806. Noted Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib was married to Umrao Begum, daughter of Nawab Ilahi Bakhsh Khan.

His son, Nawab Faizullah Beg, was a courtier in Bahadur Shah Zafar's reign, and built a complex later known as Ahata Kaley Sahab, so named a saint named Kaley Khan, who lived here for a while, after whom Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan is named. The complex was later acquired by Bunyadi Begum, poet Mirza Ghalib's sister-in-law, and housed the poet after he was released from debtors' prison.