Foreign Minister of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Fakir Aziz-ud-Din.

Fakir Aziz-Ud-Din was a physician, linguist, diplomat, and foreign minister at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was a Muslim, one of many non-Sikhs in Ranjit Singh's secular government of the Sikh Empire.

He was the eldest son of Hakim Ghulam Mohi-Ud-Din and had two brothers, Nur-Ud-Din and Imam-Ud-Din. Both had senior military posts in the empire. He was apprenticed as a physician and was originally known by the title Hakim (physician). Later in life, he adopted the title Fakir (beggar), as a mark of humility, that title appearing in British correspondence after 1826.

His first contact with Ranjit Singh was as a physician. The Maharaja was impressed by his medical skill and proficiency in languages – Arabic, Persian, and English – and had complete trust in him and rewarded him with a Jagir and a position at court. His first major assignment was to assist the Maharaja in the negotiations with the British which led to the Treaty of Amritsar, 1809. Between 1810 and 1838 there followed a great number of diplomatic assignments and tasks as an interpreter.

When Dost Mohammed Khan attacked Peshawar in 1834 to regain it, Ranjit Singh sent Fakir Azizuddin, his Foreign Minister, for negotiations. When Fakir Azizuddin reached his camp and talks started, the courtiers gave it a religious bend and he was taunted severely for his allegiance to a non-Muslim. Fakir Azizuddin asked all present that being a good Muslim, is it not his moral duty to loyally serve his king? The aggressors who were in no mood to let go, cleverly started alluding to the massive bloodshed of Muslims on both sides if the war ensued. Fakir Azizuddin took a pause and asked Dost Mohammed Khan that if he convinced Ranjit Singh to give Peshawar back to him, would he return peacefully? The answer was a resounding ‘yes’. And then Fakir Azizuddin retorted: “Don’t brand your campaign Islamic, it’s a fight for a piece of land.”

Aziz-Ud-Din continued in the service of the Sikh Empire after the death of Ranjit Singh. In December 1839 he represented Maharaja Kharak Singh on a mission to the British Governor-General, Lord Auckland. In 1842, on behalf of Maharaja Sher Singh, he welcomed the new Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, at Firozpur. He remained scrupulously aloof from the factional intrigues which had overtaken the Empire after Ranjit Singh`s death. Saddened at the turn events had taken and by the death of two of his sons, he died in Lahore on 3 December 1845.