Murshid Quli Khan (c. 1660 – 30 June 1727), also known as Mohammad Hadi and born as Surya Narayan Mishra, was the first Nawab of Bengal, serving from 1717 to 1727.

Born a Hindu in the Deccan Plateau c. 1670, Murshid Quli Khan was bought by Mughal noble Haji Shafi.

According to Sir Jadunath Sarkar, Murshid Quli Khan was originally a Hindu and named as Surya Narayan Mishra, born in Deccan c.

[6] In c. 1690, Shafi left his position in the Mughal court and returned to Persia accompanied by Murshid Quli Khan.

About five years after Shafi's death, Murshid returned to India and worked under Abdullah Khurasani, the Diwan of Vidarbha in the Mughal Empire.

Due to his expertise in revenue matters, he was noticed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and played an important role when applying the sharia based Fatwa Alamgiri's financial strategies.

[6] Unlike other Islamic rulers, Murshid Quli Khan had only one wife, Nasiri Banu Begum, and no concubines.

He was not pleased at this appointment as he intend to use the revenue collected from the state to fund his campaign to occupy the Mughal throne after Aurangzeb's death.

[8] One morning when Quli Khan was going to meet Azim-us-Shan, soldiers, under the leadership of Abdul Wahid, surrounded him and asked him for their wages.

But, according to Historian Chowdhury, Quli Khan knew that us-Shan was responsible for inciting the soldiers,[8] so he said to them: "You have conspired to assassinate me.

"[9] Azim-us-Shan was extremely worried Quli Khan knew of his assassination plans and was fearful of Aurangzeb's reaction.

However, he wrote about the matter to Aurangzeb, who in turn sent a letter to us-Shan warning him that if Quli Khan was "harmed, then he would take revenge on him".

[note 2] He said that he relocated the office since Mukshudabad was situated in the central part of Bengal, making it easy to communicate throughout the province.

[12] A year later, in 1703, Aurangzeb transferred us-Shan from Bengal to Bihar and Farrukhsiyar was made the titular subahdar of the province.

Chowdhury opines that this "might be the correct date" as the representative of the British East Indian Company in Orissa province met Quli Khan in early 1704.

According to Sarkar, he did so to form an allegiance with him, as he thought that it would be impossible to occupy the Delhi throne without the support of local nobility.

[clarification needed] Quli Khan himself used to carry the money and other forms of revenue with the infantry and the cavalry to Bihar where they were given to the Mughal collector.

In the Dugharia region of the city he built a palace, a diwankhana ("office of revenue collection", a court of exchequer).

Though Quli Khan was a Muslim, Hindus were employed in the tax department primarily because he thought they were experts in the field; they could also speak fluent Persian.

[26] Quli Khan remains buried under the stairs to the main-floor of Katra Masjid[note 4]—a five-bayed rectangular mosque constructed by himself—pursuant to his wishes.