Mirza Ghiyas Beg

Mirza Ghiyas Beg
A 18th-century portrait of Mirza Ghiyas Beg. Color and gold over gold-sprinkled black ground on paper.
Prime minister of the Mughal Empire
In office 1611–1622
Monarch	Jahangir
Personal details
Born	Mid 16th-century Tehran, Safavid Iran
Died	1622 Near Kangra, Mughal India
Spouse(s)	Asmat Begam
Relations	Khvajeh Mohammad-Sharif (father) Mohammad-Taher Wasli (brother)
Children	Mohammad-Sharif Ebrahim Khan Fath Jang E'teqad Khan Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan Nur Jahan
Military service
Allegiance	Mughal Empire
Years of service	1577–1622

Mirza Ghiyas Beg (Persian: مرزا غياث بيگ‎‎), also known by his title of I'timad-ud-Daulah (اعتمادالسلطنه آگهی الدوله), was an important Persian official in the Mughal empire, whose children served as wives, mothers, and generals of the Mughal emperors.

Born in Tehran, Ghiyas Beg belonged to a family of poets and high officials. Nevertheless, his fortunes fell into disfavor after the death of his father in 1576. Along with his pregnant wife Asmat Begum, and his three children, they immigrated to India. There he was received by the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605), and was enrolled into his service. During the latters reign, Ghiyas Beg was appointed treasurer for the province of Kabul.

His fortunes further increased during the reign of Akbar's son and successor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627), who in 1611 married his daughter Nur Jahan and appointed Ghiyas Beg as his Prime minister. By 1615, Ghiyas Beg had risen to further prominence, when he was given the status of 6,000 men and was given a standard and drums, a prestige normally restricted for distinguished princes.

Ghiyas Beg was a native of Tehran, and was the youngest son of Khvajeh Mohammad-Sharif, a poet and vizier of Mohammad Khan Tekkelu and his son Tatar Soltan, who was the governor of the Safavid province of Khorasan. Mohammad-Sharif was later listed under the service of Shah Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576), where he in the start served as the vizier of Yazd, Abarkuh, and Biabanak for seven years. Thereafter he was appointed as the vizier of Isfahan, and died there in 1576. Ghiyas Beg's elder brother, Mohammad-Taher Wasli, was a learned man who composed poetry under the pen name of Wasli.