Reign 5 August 997—998 Religion Islam Parents Sabuktigin Siblings Mahmud of Ghazni | Father Sabuktigin Died Maymana, Afghanistan Grandparent Qara Bajkam | |
Similar Mahmud of Ghazni, Sabuktigin, Muhammad of Ghazni, Mas'ud I of Ghazni | ||
Ismail of Ghazni (Persian: اسماعیل غزنوی) was the emir of Ghazna, reigning for 7 months, from 5 August 997 until 998. He succeeded his father emir Sabuktigin, who died of an illness acquired in Balkh during a campaign in the Samanid civil war. Ismail was designated his successor by Sabuktigin on his death-bed, while Mahmud, the older brother who was involved in the Samanid civil war, was stationed in Nishapur.
Upon receiving these news Mahmud of Ghazni contested Ismail's right to the throne and divested his charge of Nishapur to his uncle Borghuz and younger brother Nur-ud-Din Yusuf and marched upon Ghazna in what is now Afghanistan.
Mahmud won the Battle of Ghazni and took the crown from Ismail. Ismail spent the rest of his life confined to a fort in Guzgan. Historians have extrapolated that Sabuktigin chose Ismail because his other two sons both had a Turkic slave as mother, from Ferdowsi's later satirization of Mahmud for being descended from slaves on both maternal and paternal side.