Ghūrid Sultanate , Empire centered in Ghur (modern Ghowr) in west-central Afghanistan from the middle of the 12th to the beginning of the 13. century. Its founder was ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Ḥusayn .
Ghūr is a mountainous area southeast of the region Herāt and northwest of the Helmand- Tals. Ghūr was 1009/1020 by Maḥmūd of Ghazna (Ghaznī) conquered and then honored the Ghaznaviden by the mid-12th century. Its residents converted at this time to Islam . In 1149, the Ghaznavid ruler Bahram Shāh poisoned a local Ghūrid leader, Quṭb al-Dīn, who had taken refuge in the city of Ghazna after a family quarrel. In revenge, the Ghūrid chief ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Ḥusayn sacked and burned the city of Ghazna, ending Ghaznavid rule. Although ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn could not hold Ghazna, his triumph enabled his nephews Ghiyāth al-Dīn and Muʿizz al-Dīn conquered the city from the in 1173 Oğuz- Turkmen nomads who had ruled them since the fall of the Ghaznavids.
Between 1173 and 1202, Ghiyāth, the senior leader and supreme commander of the Ghūrid, and Muʿizz al-Dīn, his brother and loyal subordinate, brought the power of the Ghūrid to its peak. Ghiyāth fought with the Khwārezm-Shāh to control the previous holdings the Seljuk Turks in Khorāsān (in northeastern Iran). Ghiyāth occupied Herāt (western Afghanistan) in 1176 and took over 1200 takes control of most of Afghanistan, the East Iran and today's Turkmenistan. In Meanwhile, Muʿizz al-Dīn and his lieutenant Quṭb al-Dīn established Aybak Ghūrid to rule over northern India from the city Multān in Are to Gaur in Bengal . ( See Muʿizz al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Sām .)
The Ghūrid Empire, however, proved short-lived. Ghiyāth died in 1202 and Muʿizz al-Dīn was assassinated in 1206. A confused struggle then ensued between the remaining Ghūrid leaders, and the Khwārezm-Shāh were able to take over the realm of the Ghūrids around 1215.
Although the empire of the Ghūrids was short-lived, the conquests of Muʿizz al-Dīn laid the foundation for the later one Muslim rule in India . The cooperative relationship between Ghiyāth al-Dīn and Muʿizz al-Dīn, free from jealousy, contributed greatly to their success and is unusual in annals of Muslim dynasties.