Ala ad-Din Tekish

Who was Ala ad-Din Tekish?

Ala ad-Din Tekish or Tekesh or Takesh was the Shah of Khwarezmian Empire from 1172 to 1200. He was the son of Il-Arslan. His rule was contested by his brother, Sultan Shah, who held a principality in Khorasan. Tekish inherited Sultan Shah's state after he died in 1193.

In 1194 Tekish defeated the Seljuq sultan of Hamadan, Toghrul III, in an alliance with Caliph Al-Nasir, and conquered his territories. After the war, he broke with the Caliphate and was on the brink of a war with it until the Caliph accepted him as Sultan of Iraq, Khorasan, and Turkestan in 1198.

He died of a peritonsillar abscess in 1200 and was succeeded by his son, Ala ad-Din Muhammad.