Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar

Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar
Governor of Yunnan (Karadjang)
In office 1274–1279
Preceded by	newly created position, previous ruler was King of Dali
Succeeded by	Nasr al-Din
Personal details
Born	1211 Bukhara
Died	1279 Yunnan
Nationality	Khwarezmian
Children	Nasr al-Din, Hassan, Hussein, Shamsddin Omar, Mazhar
Religion	Islam
Military service
Allegiance	Yuan dynasty

Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar al-Bukhari (Persian: سید اجل شمس‌الدین عمر‎‎; Chinese: 赛典赤·赡思丁; pinyin: Sàidiǎnchì Zhānsīdīng) (1211–1279) was Yunnan's first provincial governor in history, appointed by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

Shams al-Din was of Central Asian origin, being a Muslim Khwarezmian from Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan). When Genghis Khan attacked the city during the war between the Khwarizmi Shah and the Mongols, Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar's family surrendered to him. He was allegedly descended from 'Alī bin Abī Tālib and the Prophet, Sayyid Ajall's father was Kamāl al-Dīn and his grandfather was Shams al-Dīn 'Umar al-Bukhārī. According to Marshall Broomhall This man, who was a native of Bokhara, is said to have been a descendant of Mohammed (twenty-seventh generation) He served the court of the Yuan dynasty at Yanjing (modern day Beijing). Later, he was in charge of Imperial finances in 1259, sent to Yunnan by Kublai Khan after conquering the Kingdom of Dali in 1274.

The Yüan-shi gives many biographies of distinguished Muslims in the service of the Mongols. A number of them occupied high offices. In chap, cxxv, we find the biography of 赛典赤·赡思丁 Sai-dien-ch'i shan-sse-ding, called also 烏馬兒 Wu-ma-r. He was a Hui-hui and a descendant of the 别菴伯爾 Bie-an-bo-r. In his country Sai-dien-ch'i has the same meaning as 貴族 (noble family) in Chinese. There is a long biography of Sai-dien-ch'i.

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