afghan sultanates, 1260–1732
Meanwhile anarchy prevailed in Herat. Qasim Khan, a Zafran Khel
Saddozai who had recently arrived from Multan, ingratiated himself with
Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan and was appointed as his chief confidential adviser.
Behind the sultan’s back, however, Qasim Khan plotted to seize control of
Herat. Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan was accustomed to making weekly pilgrim-
ages to his son’s grave. In October 1721 Qasim Khan engineered a ‘chance’
encounter with ‘Abd Allah Khan in the garden, lured him into a secluded
corner on the pretence of passing on confidential information, and struck
him on the back of the neck with his sword, killing him instantly.
Qasim Khan then declared himself sultan of Herat with the title of
Shah Qasim, but most of the heads of the ‘Abdali clans refused to swear
the oath of loyalty. Qasim Shah’s response was a brief but bloody reign of
terror. Anyone who refused to pledge allegiance was put to death on the
Horse of Fortune, a crude guillotine consisting of a sloping, steel blade
several metres long contained within a narrow frame. The condemned
man was placed at the top of this slide with heavy stones attached to his
feet and forced to slide down the ‘horse’. By the time he reached the end
the victim had been sliced in two from the groin upwards.
When news of Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan’s murder reached Multan,
Sultan Hayat Khan, who had now lost a son and a grandson to assassins,
declared his intention of going to Herat to avenge their deaths, but one of
his sons, Muqarrab Khan, pledged to act in his father’s place and left with
Hayat Khan’s blessing. Unfortunately, Muqarrab Khan made the mistake of
going via Kandahar, where he was imprisoned by Shah Mahmud Hotaki.
Muqarrab Khan, though, appealed to Mahmud’s sense of honour, declar-
ing that the purpose of his journey was the fulfilment of badal. Mahmud,
realizing he could only profit from the Saddozai feud, let him continue
on his way. When Muqarrab arrived in Herat, most of Qasim’s henchmen
deserted him and he was put to death, but his execution failed to end the
feud between rival members of the Saddozai clan.
Shortly after Muqarrab Khan reached Herat, Shah Muhammad Khan,
a son of Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan, arrived from Multan and demanded that
his uncle stand aside. The dispute eventually became so heated that in the
summer of 1722 the ‘Abdali khans called a jirga, which confirmed Shah
Muhammad Khan as sultan, and Muqarrab Khan returned to Multan.
Shah Muhammad Khan then proceeded to alienate the very leaders who
had put him in power by demanding he be invested with all the pomp and
ceremony of a Safavid monarch. He was crowned with a royal jigha and
senior members of the ‘Abdali aristocracy were required to abase them-
selves when admitted to his presence. Shah Muhammad also insisted that
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