Editing Shah Rukh (section)

==Foreign relations==
During Shah Rukh's reign, relations between the Timurid state and [[Ming dynasty|Ming China]], under the rule of the [[Yongle Emperor]] and his descendants, were normalised.<ref>{{cite book | last=Dreyer | first=Edward L. | title=Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405–1433 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9BeFQgAACAAJ | year=2007 | publisher=Pearson Longman | location=New York | isbn=9780321084439 | author-link=Edward L. Dreyer | pages=60–61}}</ref> This was contrasted by the preceding era of [[Timur]] and the [[Hongwu Emperor]] (the first emperor of Ming China) who almost started a war with each other (which was only averted by the death of Timur). Chinese embassies, led by [[Chen Cheng (Ming dynasty)|Chen Cheng]], visited Samarqand and Herat several times in 1414–1420,<ref>{{citation|first=Shih-Shan Henry|last= Tsai|title=Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle|publisher=University of Washington Press|year= 2002|isbn= 0-295-98124-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aU5hBMxNgWQC |page=162}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=067On0JgItAC&pg=PA144|contribution=Ch'en Ch'eng|author-link=L. Carrington Goodrich|first1=L. Carrington |last1= Goodrich|first2=C. N.|last2= Tay|editor1-first=L. Carrington|editor1-last= Goodrich|editor2-first= Chaoying|editor2-last= Fang|title=Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Volume I (A-L)|publisher= Columbia University Press|year=1976|isbn=0-231-03801-1|pages=144–145}}</ref> while a large embassy sent by Shah Rukh (and immortalized by its diarist, [[Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh|Ghiyāth-ud-dīn Naqqāsh]]) travelled to [[Beijing]] in 1419–22 and were hosted with lavish banquets and the exchange of gifts.<ref name=Ghiasianp13/><ref name=cam>{{citation|first=Timothy |last=Brook |author-link=Timothy Brook |contribution=Chapter 10, Communications and commerce|editor-first=Denis Crispin |editor-last=Twitchett|editor2-first= John King |editor2-last=Fairbank|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1978|isbn=0-521-24333-5|title=The Cambridge History of China|volume=8, "The Ming Dynasty: 1368–1644", Part 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVhvh6ibLJcC&pg=PA583|pages=583–584}}</ref><ref name=brook>{{citation|first=Timothy |last=Brook|author-link =Timothy Brook|title=The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China|publisher= University of California Press|year=1998|isbn=0-520-21091-3|pages=34–38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuMcHWWbXqMC&pg=PA34}}</ref> Shah Rukh sent two letters in Arabic & Persian to the Yongle emperor inviting him to Islam & praising the virtues of Islamic Law (as opposed to the [[Yassa|Yasa]]).<ref>{{harvtxt|Subtelny|2007|p=25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=نوائى|title=اسناد و مکاتبات تاریخی ایران از تیمور تا شاه اسماعیل|year=1977|location=طهران|pages=133–137|language=Persian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=سمرقندي|first=عبد الرزاق|title=مطلع سعدين و مجمع بحرين؛ جلد دوم؛ جزء أول|year=1946|location=لاهور|pages=131–134|language=Persian}}</ref> The letters were also meant to assert Shah Rukh's independence & to clarify that the Timurids were not the vassals of the Ming dynasty.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Chinese World Order: Traditional China's Foreign Relations|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1968|pages=211–212}}</ref>   
     
Through his promotion of commercial and political relations with neighbouring kingdoms, Shah Rukh also maintained contact with several other contemporary rulers. Monarchs of the [[Aq Qoyunlu]], [[India]], [[Ormus|Hurmuz]] and (in the early part of his reign) the [[Ottoman Empire]] made homage to him.<ref name="GhiasianPP13–14">{{harvtxt|Ghiasian|2018|pp=13–14}}</ref> Successive [[Delhi Sultanate|Sultans of Delhi]], starting with [[Khizr Khan]], exchanged embassies with the Timurid court and swore their loyalty to the emperor, while the [[Bengal Sultanate|Sultan of Bengal]], [[Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah]], had sought his military support.<ref name="GhiasianPP13–14"/><ref name="Sengupta2011">{{cite book|last=Sengupta|first=Nitish Kumar|author-link=Nitish Sengupta|title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA79|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Books India|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-0-14-341678-4|page=79}}</ref> Relations with the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluks]] of [[Egypt]], however, were increasingly tense due to Shah Rukh's attempts to assert dominance. They eventually normalised on the ascension of Sultan Jaqmaq, under whom the two rulers were amicable, but equal.<ref name="GhiasianPP13–14"/>