 Sold into slavery as a young boy, Iltutmish spent his early life in Bukhara and Ghazni under multiple masters.In the late 1190s, the Ghurid slave-commander Qutb al-Din Aibak purchased him in Delhi, thus making him the slave of a slave.Iltutmish rose to prominence in Aibak's service, and was granted the important iqta' of Badaun.