It was in this palatial haveli (mansion) ¾ known as Haveli...

It was in this palatial haveli (mansion) ¾ known as Haveli Mehdi Quli Khan ¾ that Sayyid Ahmad Khan was born on October 17, 1817. He was the third child of his parents. Two years before the birth of Ahmad Khan, his maternal grandfather, Khwajah Farîd, had been appointed the Prime Minister of Emperor Akbar Shah with the high sounding titles of Dabîr al-Mulk, Amîn al-Daulah, Maslah Jang.

This was the crowning achievement in a career which had taken Khwaja Farîd to various parts of the crumbling Mughal Empire which was quickly losing its power to the British India Company. In 1781, he had gone to Lucknow where he studied mathematics for three years with the famous scholar Allama Taffadal Husain Khan who was also a munshi (tutor-cum-clerk) first to General Palmer and then to W.W. Hunter.

He returned to Delhi to spend the next thirteen years but he was back in Lucknow in 1797 where he gained access to General Martin and other high-ranking British officials who recommended him to be the Superintendent of the Company’s newly established Calcutta Madressah (Maddressah Aliyâh). In Calcutta, Khwajah Farîd impressed Lord Wellesley with his diplomatic skills and was sent by him to Iran in 1803 as an attaché of the British Embassy.

Khwajah Farîd had a specific mission: he was to convince Emperor Fateh Ali Shah of Iran to send another ambassador to India in place of Ambassador Haji Muhammad Khalîl Khan who had been “accidentally” killed by the Company’s soldiers on July 20, 1802. Khwajah Farîd was able to accomplish his mission and Muhammad Nabî Khan of Shiraz was appointed as the new ambassador of Iran to India. The Company promoted Khwajah Farîd to the position of Political Officer at the Court of Ava in Burma.

After a few month’s stay in Burma, Khwaja Farîd returned to Calcutta and was appointed Tahsildâr (revenue officer) of the newly conquered territories in Bandiylkhand. Once the British power was consolidated in that area, a permanent revenue officer was appointed and Khwajah Farid returned to Delhi in 1810, which had been conquered by Lord Lake in 1803.

After a few months, he went back to Calcutta for about five years (1810-1815) before being appointed as the Prime Minister of the helpless Mughal Emperor Akbar II who drew his pension from the Company and who was under severe financial constraints. The Emperor expected Khwajah Farîd to obtain more money from the Company to pay his debts.