
Najib ad-Dawlah (died 30 October 1770) was commander-in-chief of the Mughal Empire from 1756 to 1759.
Biography[]
Najib Khan Yousafzai was born in Maneri in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and he belonged to the Yousafzai tribe of Pashtuns. Najib settled in Rampur in 1739 and helped found the town of Najibabad in 1740, establishing his own state and becoming known as "Najib ad-Dawlah". Imad-ul-Mulk appointed Najib as governor of Saharanpur, and, in 1757, he conquered Dehradun and became known as an administrator who brought about great prosperity and development. Ahmad Shah Durrani conquered Delhi in 1757 and named Najib as Paymaster-General of the Mughal army, effectively serving as his viceroy. However, the ambitious Imad-ul-Mulk invited the Marathas to invade and expel the Afghans, and the Afghans were defeated at the Battle of Delhi in 1757. In 1759, the Marathi finance minister Sadashivrao Bhau had Najib fired as commander of the Mughal army for failing to pay taxes for several years, resulting in Najib persuading Shah Alamgir II to invite Durrani to invade India as a Mughal ally and expel the Marathas. Najib's brother Suleiman-ud-Daula persuaded Durrani to come to the Mughals' aid, but Imad-ul-Mulk murdered Alamgir and enthroned his son Shah Jahan III as a puppet, forcing Najib to flee to meet with Durrani's invading army. Najib commanded an army of Rohillas in the Afghans' service, and he helped persuade Madho Singh, Bijay Singh, and Shuja-ud-Daula to send troops to the invaders, while persuading Araadhak Singh to betray the Marathas in the midst of the Third Battle of Panipat. The Afghan-Mughal army was victorious over the Marathi alliance, and Najib became Mir Bakshi of the Mughal Empire as a result of the victory. However, his victory was hollow, as Delhi's treasury had been emptied and its palaces sacked as the result of several invasions. In 1764, the Jats overran the Mughal garrison at Agra and looted the two silver gates to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. Najib continued to rule over his realm until his natural death in 1770.