The founder of Ahmedabad, Gujarat's most populous city which carries his name, he was also a poet, having written a collection of Persian poetry.

[2] According to Mirat-i-Ahmadi, he abdicated the throne in favour of his grandson Ahmad Shah in 1410 due to his failing health.

After leaving Patan, he convened an assembly of Ulemas and asked a question that should he took retribution of his father's unjust death.

[3][4][5] Soon after assuming power, his cousin Moid-ud-din Firuz Khan, governor of Vadodara, allying himself with Hisam or Nizam-ul-Mulk Bhandari and other nobles, collected an army at Nadiad, and, laying claim to the crown, defeated the king's followers.

The sage pointed out unique characteristics in the land which nurtured such rare qualities which turned a timid hare to chase a ferocious dog.

[7] In the following year (1413–14 AD) Ahmad Shah defeated Asha Bhil, chief of Asawal.

[5] Ahmad Shah laid the foundation of the city at the site of Asawal on 26 February 1411[8] (at 1.20 pm, Thursday, the second day of Dhu al-Qi'dah, Hijri year 813[9]) at Manek Burj.

Moid-ud-din now persuaded Rukn Khan governor of Modasa, fifty miles north of Ahmedabad, to join.

The besieged bent on treachery asked the Ahmad Shah to send Nizam-ul-Mulk the minister and certain other great nobles.

In 1414–15 AD, Uthman Ahmed and Sheikh Malik, in command at Patan, and Sulaiman Afghan called Azam Khan, and Ísa Salar rebelled, and wrote secretly to Sultan Hushang of Malwa Sultanate, inviting him to invade Gujarat, and promising to seat him on the throne and expel Ahmad Shah.

In 1414, his son Meliga regained Junagadh and also gave refuge to some of rebels (probably Jhala chief Satrasal).

When the Malik reached Nandoḍ he found that Gheirat Khan had fled to Malwa and that Nasir had retired to Thalner.

The Malik advanced, besieged and took Thalner, capturing Nasir whom Ahmed forgave and dignified with the title of Khan.

[20][5] The alliance of Hindu kings rebelled knowing that Ahmad Shah is busy in his expedition against Nasir.

After quelling these rebellions Ahmad Shah despatched Nizam-ul-Mulk to punish the jhala rajput ruler of Mandal near Viramgam, and himself marched to Malwa against Sultan Hushang in 1418.

In 1421 he repaired the fort in the town of Kahreth, otherwise called Meimun in Lunavaḍa, which had been built by Ulugh Khan Sanjar in the reign of Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji and changed the name to Sultanpur.

After 48 days of unsuccessful siege and several clashes, Ahmad Shah had to move to Ujjain in May due to incoming monsoon.

He again imposed siege in September 1421 but Hushang Shah had returned to Mandu with large number of war elephants from Orissa.

[23][24][25][5] Fearing that their turn would come next the jhala rajput king of Zalawad and Kanha apparently chief of Dungarpur fled to Nasir Khan of Asir.

Sultan Ahmed sent his eldest son Muhammad Khan with Mukarrabul Mulk and others to meet the Dakhanis who were repulsed with considerable loss.

The Dakhan princes fled to Daulatabad and Kanha and Nasir Khan to Kalanda near Chalisgaum in south Khandesh.

[5] In 1429, on the death of Kutub Khan, the Gujarat governor of the island of Mahim (now neighbourhood of Mumbai), Ahmad Shah of Bahmani Sultanate smarting under his defeats, ordered Hasan Izzat, otherwise called Malik-ut-Tujjar, to the Konkan and by the Malik's activity the North Konkan passed to the Deccans.

A fleet, collected from Diu, Ghogha and Khambhat sailed to the Konkan, attacked Thane by sea and land, captured it, and regained possession of Mahim.

In 1432, after contracting his son Fateh Khan in marriage with the daughter of the Rai of Mahim to the north of Bassein (now Vasai), Ahmad Shah marched towards Nagor, and exacted tribute and presents from the Raval of Dungarpur.

From Dungarpur he went to Mewad, enforcing his claims on Bundi and Kota, two Hara Rajput states in south-east Rajputana.

He then entered the Delvada country, levelling temples and destroying the palace of Rana Mokalsingh, the chief of Chittor.

After this he returned to Gujarat, and during the next few years was warring principally in Malwa, where, according to Farishtah, his army suffered greatly from pestilence and famine.

[5] Ahmed died in 1442 in the fifty-third year of his life and the thirty-third of his reign and was buried in the mausoleum, Badshah no Hajiro, near Manek Chowk, Ahmedabad.

Sitting in the window of his palace watching the Sabarmati River in flood Ahmed saw a large earthen jar float by.