Mahmud Ghazan

Mahmud Ghazan (1271–1304) was the seventh Ilkhan of Persia, who made Islam the Mongol court's faith in Iran and reformed its finances. Raised a Christian and taught by a Buddhist monk, from 1284 he governed Khorasan for his father Arghun against the Chagatai Mongols. After Baydu seized the throne in 1295, Ghazan became a Sunni Muslim on 16 June in exchange for Nawruz's army and had Baydu executed in October. He put Nawruz to death in 1297.

He made Rashid al-Din his vizier and had him write the Jami al-Tawarikh, a universal history. He defeated the Mamluks at Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299, taking Damascus. In January 1300 Ibn Taymiyya told him a self-declared Muslim had broken his promise by invading.

His April 1303 defeat at Marj al-Saffar ended major Mongolian invasions of Syria. He died near Qazvin in May 1304 with no son; his brother Öljaitü succeeded.