Etymology The title Nizam comes from Urdu نظام /nɪˈzɑːm/, which itself is derived from Persian niẓām which means "order" or "arrangement", and was typically given to high state officials. Nizām-ul-mulk was a title first used in Urdu around 1600 to mean Administrator of the Realm. The word is derived from the Persian language, as in Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi (11 April 1018 – 14 October 1092), better known by his honorific title of Nizam al-Mulk (Persian: نظام‌ الملک, "Order of the Realm"). Descent According to Sir Roper Lethbridge in The Golden Book of India (1893), the Nizams are lineally descended from the First Caliph Abu Bakr, the successor of the Islamic prophet Muhammed. The family of Nizams in India is descended from Abid Khan, a Persian from Samarkand, whose lineage is traced to Sufi Shihab-ud-Din Suhrawardi (1154–91) of Suhraward in Iran. In the early 1650s, on his way to hajj, Abid Khan stopped in Deccan, where the young prince Aurangzeb, then Governor of Deccan, cultivated him. Abid Khan returned to the service of Aurangzeb to fight in the succession wars of 1657–58. After Aurangzeb's enthronement, Abid Khan was richly rewarded and became Aurangzeb's favourite nobleman. His son Ghazi Uddin Khan was married to Safiya Khanum, the daughter of the former imperial Grand Vizier (prime minister) Sa'dullah Khan. Mir Qamaruddin Khan, the founder of the line of Nizams, was born of the couple, thus descending from two prominent families of the Mughal court. Ghazi Uddin Khan rose to become a General of the Emperor Aurangzeb and played a vital role in conquering Bijapur and Golconda Sultanates of Southern India in 1686. He also played a key role in thwarting the rebellion by Prince Akbar and alleged rebellion by Prince Mu`azzam.After Aurangzeb's death and during the war of succession, Qamaruddin and his father remained neutral thus escaping the risk of being on the losing side; they remained marginal players in the Mughal court during the reigns of Bahadur Shah I (1707–12) and Jahandar Shah (1712–13). Their successor Farrukhsiyar (1713–19) appointed Qamaruddin the governor of Deccan in 1713, awarding him the title Nizam-ul-Mulk. However, the governorship was taken away two years later and Qamaruddin withdrew to his estate in Moradabad. Under the next emperor, Muhammad Shah (1719–48), Qamaruddin accepted the governorship of Deccan for the second time in 1721. The next year, following the death of his uncle Muhammad Amin Khan