His mother, Jan Malik Agha, a daughter of the Timurid officer Amir Chulpan Qauchin, had been previously married to Baysunghur's cousin Iskandar Mirza.
[1][2][3] Unlike his younger brothers, Ala al-Dawla was raised at the royal court alongside his cousin Abdal-Latif Mirza by their grandmother, the empress Gawhar Shad.
[2] When Shah Rukh fell ill in 1444, Gawhar Shad, anticipating his death, pushed the powerful Amir Firuzshah to support Ala al-Dawla's succession to the throne, angering the other princes.
Gawhar Shad, who had been with him, quickly dispatched a message to Ala al-Dawla, who had been left as Shah Rukh's deputy in Herat, informing him of the sultan's death.
[8] The prince's soldiers then launched an attack against his renegade cousin, freeing the dowager empress and rescuing his grandfather's body, which he had buried in the Gawhar Shad Mausoleum in Herat.
[7][note 1] Over the following few months, the various regions of the Timurid Empire were parcelled off by Shah Rukh's descendants, with the respective princes opting to remain cautious and defensive.
[10] The hiatus ended in May when Ulugh Beg, who was ruling from Samarqand, took Abu Bakr, son of Muhammad Juki captive and stationed his own troops in Balkh, which had formerly been the latter's territory.
Ala al-Dawla, who had just learned that his brother Abul-Qasim Babur was making raids near Herat, agreed to the proposal, allowing Ulugh Beg to keep much of Abu Bakr's former territories.
As Ala al-Dawla marched to Mashhad to confront his brother's forces, the amirs of both princes urged them to make an alliance, pointing out that Ulugh Beg was aiming for total conquest over his rivals.
Even his grandmother Gawhar Shad appears to have doubted him, taking refuge instead with his brother Sultan Muhammad in Isfahan, bringing with her many of her relatives, nobles and a large number of troops.
Ala al-Dawla, alongside Gawhar Shad, encouraged Sultan Muhammad to march on Herat, which resulted in the defeat of Abul-Qasim Babur's forces and the capture of the city.
[13] In June of that year, Ala al-Dawla made a bid to capture Samarqand from Abdallah Mirza, who had taken the city following the deaths of Ulugh Beg and Abdal-Latif.
[18] The following spring, the two princes made an alliance with Sultan Sanjar, who was a grandson of Shah Rukh's eldest brother Umar Shaikh, against Abu Sa'id.