ABD USSAMAD KHAN (d. 1737), governor of Lahore from 1713 to 1726, a descendant of the Naqashbandi saint `Abdulla Ahrar, a great grandson of Khwaja Baki of Baghdad, was born at Agra when his father, Khwaja `Abd ul-Karim Ansari, had come out with his family from Samarkand on a tour of India during the reign of Emperor Aurangzib. When Samad Khan was two years old, his parents returned to Samarkand where he passed the early years of his life and where he attained the office of Shaikh ul Islam. Soon thereafter he came to India obtaining appointment at the court of Aurangzeb. He served for many years in the Deccan without attracting much notice.
