Yousuf Shah Chak
| Yousuf Shah Chak يوسف شاہ چک | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sultan Nasiru'd-Din Padishah Ghazi Shah | |||||||||
Yousuf Shah Chak depicted as the King of Kashmir in the Sinbadnama, c. 1575–1585 | |||||||||
| 22nd Sultan of Kashmir | |||||||||
| 1st Reign | December 1578 – February 1579 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Ali Shah Chak | ||||||||
| Successor | Sayyid Mubarak | ||||||||
| 2nd Reign | November 1580 - 14 February 1586 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Lohar Khan Chak | ||||||||
| Successor | Yakub Shah Chak | ||||||||
| Born | 1545 Srinagar, Kashmir Sultanate (present-day Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India) | ||||||||
| Died | 22 September 1592 (aged 46–47) Puri, Orissa Subah, Mughal Empire (present-day Puri, Odisha, India) | ||||||||
| Burial | 28 December 1592 | ||||||||
| Consort | Habba Khatoon | ||||||||
| Issue | Yakub Shah Chak Ibrahim Shah Chak Haidar Khan Chak | ||||||||
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| Dynasty | Chak dynasty | ||||||||
| Father | Ali Shah Chak | ||||||||
| Religion | Shia Islam | ||||||||
Yoūsuf (Yūsuf) Shāh Chak (Persian: یُوسُفْ شاہ چک) was the fourth Sultan of Kashmir from the Chak dynasty from 1578 to 1579 and then from 1580 to 1586. Yousuf succeeded his father, Ali Shah Chak, who crowned Yousuf before he died. Yousuf defeated all other contenders for the throne, including his uncle Abdal Chak, and ascended the throne in 1578.
Yousuf belonged to the Chak Dynasty. The Chaks were originally Dards who settled in Kashmir in the early 14th century. Most Chaks converted to the Shia branch of Islam from Hinduism. Many during Yousuf's period retained Hindu names such as Shankar, Lankar, Pandu Chak, etc. Yousuf ruled Kashmir for 5 years and 6 months, from 1578 till 1579 and from 1580 till 1586. Yousuf was exiled for a year and 9 months as the rebels occupied his throne after defeating him in the battle of Eidgah. Yousuf was a ferocious fighter, he fought for his people but he lost the respect of his subjects and ministers because of his deficiencies in administration and authority. Nonetheless, Yousuf was said to have ruled justly and to have had a great sense of justice that made him much different than his predecessors. He not only ruled the valley and hills of Kashmir, but also received tributes from Ladakh, Baltistan and the hill states of Jammu.