Najib ad-Dawlah

Najib ad-Dawlah
Died	October 30, 1770
Religion	Islam
Military career
Allegiance	Mughal Empire Durrani Empire
Service/branch	Nawab of Najibabad
Rank	Mercenary, Ispahsalar, Plenipotentiary
Battles/wars	Mughal-Maratha Wars, Third Battle of Panipat

Najib ad-Dawlah (Pashto: نجيب الدوله‎), also known as Najib Khan (Pashto: نجيب خان‎), was a Rohilla Yousafzai Pashtun who earlier served as a Mughal serviceman but later deserted the cause of the Mughals and joined Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1757 in his attack on Delhi. He was also a tribal chief in 18th century Rohilkhand, who in the 1740s founded the city of Najibabad in Bijnor district, India.

He began his career in 1743 as an immigrant from Swabi Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a soldier. He was at first an employee of Imad ul mulk. He deserted the cause of the Mughals and joined Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1757 in his attack on Delhi. He was then appointed as Mir Bakshi of the Mughal emperor by Abdali. Later in his career he was known as Najib ad-Dawlah, Amir al-Umra, Shuja ad-Dawlah. From 1757 to 1770 he was governor of Saharanpur, ruling over Dehradun. Many architectural relics of the period of Rohilla he oversaw remain in Najibabad, which he founded at the height of his career as a Mughal minister.

Najib Khan belonged to the umarkhel section of MandanhYousafzai s. He migrated from Swabi, now Pakistan in 1739 to join his uncle Bisharat Khan, who had settled with his band of Pathans at Bisharatnagar, near Rampur. In 1749, Ali Mohammed, who had captured most of Rohilkhand by 1740, gave Najib Khan a northern portion, where he established the present day city of Najibabad, a state of Najibabad independent from other Rohilla tribes, and received the title, ‘Najib ad-Dawlah’.

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