Khān
خانDefinition
A caravanserai or ruler's title — a word with two meanings that Ibn Battuta encountered constantly in both senses throughout Volume One. The khans (inns) that dotted the trade routes across Persia, Central Asia, and Anatolia provided travellers with shelter, water, and basic provisions, forming an essential part of the infrastructure that made long-distance travel possible before the modern era. The khans (rulers) of the Mongol successor states — the Golden Horde, the Ilkhanate — were among the most powerful figures Ibn Battuta met, several of them Muslim converts whose courts blended steppe nomadic tradition with Islamic practice in ways he found both fascinating and occasionally disturbing. His accounts of the Golden Horde under Khan Uzbek remain among the most detailed medieval descriptions of that polity.
As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Battuta and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Khān.
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"with his men daily, until he was absent one day, until noon, which was mealtime. The Sultan ordered a pursuit, but no trace was found of him. He had joined his father, bringing Kashlu Khan's son with him. Tughluq then announced his rebellion, gathered the troops, and was joined by Kashlu Khan with his men. The Sultan sent his brother Khan Khanan to fight them, but they inflicted a severe defeat on him, and his army fled to join them. Khan Khanan returned to his brother, having lost his men and treasures, and Tughluq advanced on Delhi. Khosrow Khan marched with his forces and camped outside Delhi at a place known as Ashiabad, meaning"
— Ibn Battuta, Volume Two: From India to the Lands of the West
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"insisting on hearing from the Sultan himself. As he prevented their advance, they rushed in and killed him. The commotion rose at the gate. When the Sultan questioned the noise, Khusrau Khan claimed it was the Indians who came to convert, but Judge Khan blocked them. As the clamor intensified, the Sultan fearful rose to enter the palace, but the door was shut, guards by his side. He knocked, and Khusrau Khan, approaching from behind, seized him. Though the Sultan being stronger, overthrew Khusrau Khan, the Indians entered. Khusrau Khan directed them, pointing, he is above me, kill him, and they complied, severing his"
— Ibn Battuta, Volume Two: From India to the Lands of the West
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"When night ended, the day guards relieved them, overseen by officers and scribes who documented attendance. The Sultan's mentor, Judge Khan, was a man of great wisdom. disapproved of Khusrau Khan's actions, particularly his favoritism towards Indian pagans, his legacy among them. Judge Khan repeatedly conveyed his concerns to the Sultan, who dismissed them saying, leave him alone, this is what God has willed, for he will be the one to kill him. One day, Khusrau Khan informed the Sultan that a group of Indians wanted to convert to Islam. In those lands, it was customary for Indians seeking Islam to be taken to the Sultan,"
— Ibn Battuta, Volume Two: From India to the Lands of the West
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