Sir Muhammad Ahmad Ali Khan KCSI KCIE (10 September 1881 – 16 October 1947) was the penultimate Nawab of Malerkotla State in India from 1908 until his death.

Though considered an ineffectual ruler and relatively unpopular during his lifetime, Ahmad's policies were later credited with ensuring communal peace in his small state during the widespread religious violence amid the Partition of India in 1947.

[8] Both Hindus and Muslims in Malerkotla were regularly displeased with his decisions during disputes and accused him of sectarianism, although he wanted to stay out of the debates and did not favor one community over the other.

In one of the most notable cases, Malerkotla's mufti led an exodus of Muslims out of the state in protest against Ahmad's perceived pro-Hindu bias.

[9] The Nawab himself suspected, probably correctly, that some of the religious conflicts during his reign were at least partially engineered by his rival and cousin Ihsan Ali Khan.

Whereas other Indian princes in the Punjab violently suppressed critics, and took part in religious pogroms,[11] Ahmad's precarious situation as weak sovereign of a tiny state made him extremely cautious and interested in keeping communal peace.

[8] Following his death, Ahmad was idealized by his son Iftikhar as "exemplary Indian prince"[5] who had made possible the religious peace in Malerkotla due to his decades-long secular policies.

[5][11] Having witnessed the chaos and death in other states of the region, many locals in Malerkotla came to greatly improve their opinion of Ahmad, and to share Iftikhar Ali Khan's assessment of his father's rule.

[16] One contemporary British official described Ahmad Ali Khan as "charming gentleman of no character or capacity" who, along with the rest of his family, had an "exaggerated sense" of self-importance.