The reign of Padishah Islam Shah I (1033-1045 AH) (1624-1636 in the Christian calendar) [/U][/B] (A/D/M 5/7/5)
Known as Islam Shah I, the defiant
Islam Shah I was Khidr Khan I’s little brother. He wasn’t as talented or sharp of mind as his brother and also did not share his brothers admiration towards the west, and maybe that’s why he lived so long, having fewer assassination attempts.
The first period of Islam Shah I’s reign was marked by the Taungu War of Provocation. Several Taungu agents were found in Delhi’s provinces, trying to raise the nationalistic sentiments of some minorities. This infuriated Islam Shah I, who also wanted to test the new weapons Delhi’s armies had.
The war against Taungu was quite easy in fact. The first battle of Kachim was won with more deaths on Delhi's side than on Taungu's, it's true, but Delhi’s armies were outnumbered two to one and still achieved victory. The other battles got easier and easier as Taungu’s forces became more demoralized. In 1631 a peace deal would be signed, with Islam Shah demanding monetary compensation and the release of Ayythaya.
In 1633, Islam Shah I claimed the title Defender of the Faith. The Persian mufti could no longer call himself truly caliph, since he had been defeated by the Byzantines, who had demanded the release of Mughal as an independent state.
In 1634, an Arab revolt began in the Castillian provinces of Judea and Beirut, but the rebels failed to take Gaza. Islam Shah I, overconfident after the easy victory against Taungu, decided that he should attend to the pleas of his ulemahs (holy men) and try to retake the Holy Land. And so started the Delhi-Portuguese War of Conquest.
The war initially in Delhi’s favor, with great victories at Diamentia ad Alexandria. Delhi’s spies also garnered support from the Muslim population of Libya and Tunisia, even if some of these devout had to be convinced to make Jihad with gold.
Delhi would as well make a successful landing in Natal, Southeastern Africa, taking the Portuguese fort built there and sending the colonists back to Western Africa.
But after 1635, Portugal’s better weapons and larger numbers started to turn the tide of the war. In the battle of Lybia 20 entire Delhi regiments would be lost against Portugal’s Mauritian infantry.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the Byzantine Empress Helene I took advantage of Delhi’s plight to declare war on the caliphate in April, along with their allies, the small isolated state of Mughal.
Islam Shah I knew that he couldn’t actually handle a conflict with the two powerful western nations at the same time. Delhi still wasn’t ready to tackle the Christians yet, so he signed a declaration conceding defeat to Portugal in July. He lost the title of True Caliph to many
(legitimacy fell from 80 to 60).
The final years of Islam Shah I’s life would be spent defeating the small state of Mughal, which was too distant from Byzantium to receive actual support. Islam Shah would try to form a large enough force to attack Byzantium, on the other side of Persia, but he’d die of scarlet fever in May of 1636, before it was done.